Red Berenson, You Ignorant $lut

The UNO Mavericks finished off their CCHA home schedule in fine fashion this weekend with a sweep of Michigan.  Last night, UNO reeled off three first period goals to take the lead for the weekend, prompting Wolverine head coach Red Berenson to issue the challenge last night:

"It's one of those nights," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "(Goalie Bryan) Hogan made some good saves to keep us close. We had our chances and we didn't capitalize on them. We've got some bouncing back to do, no question. We saw their best and they didn't see our best."

 'Ol Red might want to revise that quote, because the Mavs came out buzzing tonight and led 4-0 before the Weasels finally broke up the John Faulkner shutout bid in the closing minutes to make the final 4-1.  Dan Swanson iced the game in the third period, scoring twice in 23 seconds on odd-man rushes to break the game wide open.

The sweep launched the Mavs into fourth place in the CCHA after winning seven of their last eight games.  Fourth place would give UNO a first round bye and home ice in the second round, but it's unlikely the Mavs can hold onto that spot.  UNO faces #1 Miami next weekend on the road to close out the CCHA schedule for the Mavs, meaning additional points are going to be very tough to get.  That's going to give the teams trailing UNO an opportunity to move up the standings, especially when you consider that UNO and Alaska play non-conference games the final weekend of February while the rest of the CCHA plays more league games.  With three points up for grabs in each game, even 10th place Notre Dame could push past UNO if they win out and UNO gets swept in Oxford.

That disputed shootout point from the Bowling Green series in November is looming larger than ever.

In a footnote, Meghan Agosta, the little sister of UNO forward Jeric Agosta, scored a hat trick tonight for Team Canada in their opening game of the Olympics, defeating Slovakia 18-0.