Omaha Hockey Picks in 2013 NHL Draft

Jake Guentzel - Pittsburgh (3rd Round, 16th pick)
Guentzel was selected with the 16th pick in the 3rd round tonight in the 2013 NHL Draft by the Penguins. Guentzel, committed to UNO in the fall signing period, was the diminutive point machine in Sioux City this season. He should be en-route to the Mav cafeteria to eat as much (healthy) pizza as possible to build his body up.

Tucker Poolman - Winnipeg (5th Round, 6th pick)
Poolman played for the Lancers last season as their top blue-liner and has signed to play with the Fighting Sioux. While a bigger body, Poolman plays more like a Brent Seabrook as a good D skater using solid angles to cut-off attackers from the puck.

Grant Besse - Anaheim (5th Round, 26th pick)
Minnesota Mr. Hockey was selected late in the 5th round headed towards the Ducks organization. He'll be needing the same prescription as Guentzel while playing in the sub-tier inagural B1G 10 (zing!) conference this season for Mike Eaves at Wisconsin.

MavSauce - Omaha Lancers v Lincoln Stars

Lincoln Stars v Omaha Lancers
Sat April 6th 7:05p
Ralston Arena

A programming note that MavSauce will be in the house to watch the last Stars/Lancers matchup this season. I'm hoping to get a post up sometime on Sunday. 

Omaha hockey is winding down folks.... get it in now!!

The California Kid 2

Austin Ortega Wearing Out the Siren in USHL

It looks like the Mavericks have found another gem from the state of California. Similar to former Lancer and current Maverick Matt White, Austin Ortega has been a goal scoring machine this season in the United States Hockey League. 

Playing in 44 games this season for Indiana, Ortega had 42 points with 24 goals scored. In a midseason trade to the Fargo Force, once under the guidance of Dean Blais, Ortega continued racking up the goals keeping up with the near one point a game average. Ortega is currently at third place in goals scored this season (33) behind notable Waterloo Blackhawks and Gopher commit Taylor Cammarata (basically a poor man's Jake Guentzel).

In a quick search via YouTube (included) you can see Ortega jump a pass and take on two Waterloo defenders on at once. He gets down the ice pretty quickly and cashes a pretty sick dangle into the top shelf.

What Blais lacks in size with this class he is clearly attempting to make up for in skills. The Mavs has had some superior blue line size with Sustr, Megna, and Young and it appears he has put an added emphasis on loading up on point scorers like Austin Ortega. 

Mav Commit Jake Guentzel Lights Up USHL

Guentzel Extends Point Streak to 17 Games against Lancers

Nebraska-Omaha Maverick commitment Jake Guentzel had a relatively notable night against the Omaha Lancers Saturday to the tune of 4 total points including a hat trick. Lighting the lamp in every period,  Guentzel currently sits within the USHL Top 10 in both goals (9th) and assists (7th) while extending a points streak to 17 games. 

Guentzel is the son of Mike Guentzel, former Mavericks assistant coach, now associate head coach with Don Lucia at Minnesota. Jake also has two older brothers who have played NCAA hockey - suiting up for both Notre Dame and Colorado College respectively. While recruiting for any sport is an inexact science, being a coaches son and having brothers playing in D1 are two characteristics that bode well for future success. 

The Mavs had plenty of competition for the decorated prepster with offers from NCHC notables Minnesota-Duluth, Denver, and Colorado College.

Guentzel has a relatively small frame at 5'9, 150-ish but appears to be a points machine. Looking at his stat line over this season he not only gets his shots in but is relatively efficient in doing-so ranking (at current) 13th in the USHL in shooting percentage. While physically better days are ahead of him, Nebraska-Omaha will certainly using him as a difference maker to center the third line in opening 2013-14. 

Over the summer, I'm hoping he puts on some pounds of good weight for the upcoming month of November and the grind of the NCHC. 

The good news is that it appears that he takes the facilitator role pretty seriously in a philosophy ingrained in him by his father. Furthermore, Mike Guenztel has said that Jake and his "hockey sense will be in the top quarter of players in college hockey". Dean Blais should be getting a dependable point machine that he can mold for the next four years. 

It should also be noted that the Sioux City Musketeers also have a fellow Nebraska-Omaha signee in Jake Montgomery. The former Shattuck-St. Mary's forward has signed and will also be suited up for the upcoming season at The Link. 

I'm Worried About Dean....

Or "The five other thoughts that went through my head after seeing UNO's schedule for 2013-14"

The 2013-14 schedule for the Mavericks was released today and remains a sight to behold. With all the conversation taking place around conference realignment within the NCAA, it actually sunk in today what belonging in NCHC will bring. Couple the home/home matchups in "The National" with some very notable non-conference additions, 2013-14 will undoubtedly one of the toughest schedules in D1. 

Things I thought right when seeing the damage:

1. Seriously thought, November appears to be absolutely brutal for the boys. It would make sense to me that offseason workouts should potentially focus on surviving that month. For the uninitiated, November looks like the following:

     Nov 1/2      @ Denver
     Nov 9/10     North Dakota
     Nov 15/16   Michigan
     Nov 22/23   Miami (OH)

Considering the difficulty the Mavs have had in recent years with consequential series taking place at The Link, those last three weekends don't even give me partial warm fuzzies because of location. This month will have the Mavs squaring up against four of the most talented and historically successful teams in hockey. Three of these teams will be playing this weekend in various NCAA regionals. And if Jake Trouba comes back to Michigan next year then Mavs fans will also see one of the better blueliners in the game. 

Christmas can't come fast enough (especially if it brings 8 to 10 points)...

2. A notable non-conference lineup that includes Cornell, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Northern Michigan. Granted we didn't know Qunnipiac was eventually going to only lose two ECAC games when we played them earlier last season but 13-14 will bring some quality teams matching up against Omaha. A side by side non-con look between last season and this looks like:

Consider Hunstville and Bentley a wash with Northern Michigan being equal. You're effectively trading Quinnipiac and the season opening Ice Breaker tournament for Cornell, Michigan, and New Hampshire. Quantity over quality... with the latter not even being that far off. 

3. How about a little something for the fans?? Season ticket holders should be a little happier with the move to the NCHC. All things considered, the quality of competition has gone up with look at this schedule. While November might suck for the players, it is going to be an awesome month for hockey in the city.   

But with that said, Mavs fans should be looking for a mulligan against the Sioux on the November 9th/10th weekend. 

4. What is a Bentley?

5. It just got serious for Maverick players. The alarms should be going off for Blais after seeing this schedule. He and his staff should be doing their best to keep those difference makers receiving professional overtures (ie Ryan Walters, Matt White, Michael Young) in the fold. It will be critical for sophomores like Brian Cooper and Tanner Lane to make noticeable leaps in production. This is basically a call for all hands on deck. 

The move to the NCHC was certainly understood to bring with it a more grinding, almost SEC-like opponent set. However, with the added non-conference teams, that challenge really didn't sink in until today. 

No but seriously... What is a Bentley? 

Grant Besse Suits Up for Omaha Lancers

Minnesota Mr. Hockey Joins Lancers for Stretch Playoff Run

The Omaha Lancers got a relatively large and notable addition for their run into the 2012-13 USHL playoffs by acquiring rights to the current Minnesota Mr. Hockey, Grant Besse. Besse comes fresh off a performance in the Minnesota State AA Finals that you'll probably be hearing about (or more likely already heard) in which he scored all five Benilde-St. Margaret's goals - three of them being shorties. Probably a little difficult to believe that this isn't a video game but a YouTube link is embedded below:


With that introduction aside, Besse has signed an LOI to play for Mike Eaves and the Wisconsin Badgers this upcoming season. With the Lancers recently acquiring Besse's rights in a trade with Muskegon, he looks to at least get acquainted with a bigger, faster game of hockey prior to jumping into Division I in a couple of months. 

I took in a game against Des Moines on Sunday night at the Ralston Arena in which Besse started the game at right wing with UNO Maverick recruit Jake Randolph at left. If you recall, Randolph is a pretty decorated prepster himself and was a finalist for Minnesota Mr. Hockey last year. The pairing on Sunday night made for a clearly talented top line, with both playing on the top special teams lines too. 

For Maverick fans, and this is a Mavericks blog, the pairing of Besse and Randolph appear to be younger incarnations of Dominic Zombo and Josh Archibald. Besse has very soft hands and stickwork that could be successful in the NCAA right now. He showed that he was more quick than fast while being able to post in the crease for rebounds most of the evening. While that sort of ice position probably isn't going to happen in the Big Ten as a freshman, it does give a fairly positive projection assuming added physical size comes along in the future. Besse does pretty good job at avoiding garbage contact while driving to net and was a relatively consistent offensive threat while on the ice. 

Now I'll do a deeper post on Randolph but he appears to be a gem for Dean Blais. The USHL time has done him well as he now has a body type that play in DI today. He is a very aggressive, offensive-minded skater with quick wrists. The comp to Archie is totally there - even down to the temper. He took two bad penalties in a tightly officiated game that got chippy near the end. 

Even with the addition of Besse, the Lancers appear to be on the outside looking in with regard to the USHL playoffs. With his Omaha ice time seemingly drawing to a close, I'd recommend at least checking the kid out if you are interested in seeing the best of what Minnesota has to offer (at least in the opinion of the StarTribune). For fans of college hockey, you will at least get to see a pretty deep team that has a handful of notable prep players (like Jake Bischoff, Tucker Poolman) prior to them heading off to school. 

Biting Off More Than I Can Chew

The Creation of MavSauce 

The blog was begun while asking a simple question to some fellow hockey enthusiasts: Why isn't there a Rivals-like website for college hockey? I saw this exact question posted out on Reddit's college hockey forum and saw a total of comments back in two weeks. In asking a couple of coworkers the same question and all I got were some hearty laughs back...

Ok, so feedback received.

But Omaha geographically is in a unique spot with the sport of hockey. The University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks are led by a two-time National Championship coach that seems to put an onus on bringing in drafted high-schoolers into build the program. Similarly, the Omaha Lancers always seem to have a group of talented individuals that eventually dot NHL rosters. There also seems to be a vibrant and enthusiastic group of parents and children walking around at Moylan Iceplex on a nightly basis.

Especially in this city the interest and growth within the sport is there. I am positive it is the same way in Minnesota, North Dakota, Michigan, and Massachusetts. But why isn't there one spot that makes visibility into college hockey easily accessible? Why isn't there a site that provides ratings, opinions, and lists that give fans details on who is coming to their school?  Why aren't there kids sitting with three hats in front of them on Signing Day broadcast on ESPN5? Maybe that last one was taking it a bit too far but you get it. 

Ideally you can take this website a handful of ways:

1.) I want to provide insight into Omaha Maverick recruiting and highlight those individuals who are (or even might be) putting on the jersey in the coming years

2.) I want to take advantage of the proximity to a premier USHL program and profile those players looking to eventually make names for themselves in the NCAA and beyond

3.) Finally I provide some color to national college hockey where applicable. (Please note: this part is overly ambitious especially for one man and a Blogger site with no HTML/CSS background)

Anytime we are talking recruiting and associated insight, it is entirely subjective. When you're talking college hockey that has no go-to infrastructure for recruiting that makes this endeavor all the more difficult. With that said, I want to make this the site for hockey recruiting conversation taking place within this city.