The 2023–24 Omaha Mavericks men's ice hockey season was the 27th season of play for the program and 11th in the NCHC. The Mavericks represented the University of Nebraska Omaha, played their home games at Baxter Arena and were coached by Mike Gabinet in his 7th season.
Season
Omaha added a good deal of experience in the offseason. While only losing a handful of players, the Mavericks brought in five transfers (three of them graduates) to bolster the lineup. Šimon Latkoczy was expected to act as the primary starter, however, Seth Eisele was added to give the team a second option in goal.
Omaha had a little trouble getting on track in the first half of the season and, while they performed well at times, several of their opponents weren't particularly good. The team's defense was performing well, however, the offense was a bit up-and-down. Omaha did not have a particular leader up front but rather scored by committee. The balanced attack allowed the team to a consistent threat no matter which line was on the ice, however, it also prevented the team from distancing themselves in many games. In the first half, seven of the team's nine wins were by 1 goal while all of their losses were by multiple scores. This peculiarity also had the secondary effect of lowering the Mavericks' ranking as the PairWise takes into account the margin of victory as one of its parameters.[1] As a result, despite being well above .500 by the winter break, Omaha was only in the mid-20s and needed to climb over 10 teams to have a shot at an at-large bid.
The game against Denver on November 18 was halted after the first period due to poor ice conditions. A patch of ice behind the Denver net didn't freeze properly and after attempting to address the problem for over an hour, the game was postponed until the following day. Because an entire period had already been played, the game resumed at the start of the second.[2]
Upon their return, the Mavericks ran through a gauntlet of ranked teams, playing five consecutive matches against very difficult competition. Latkoczy did not perform well in several of those games and the Mavericks lost four to drop towards the bottom of the conference standings. With the team's chances dwindling, Omaha entered the final week of January needing a spark. The first match with St. Cloud State proved to be a turning point in the team's season as the offense came to the rescue. Latkoczy had his third consecutive poor outing, allowing 6 goals, but UNO did not surrender and kept fighting. The offense banded together and refused to allow St. Cloud to pull away, answering goal for goal in the second period and then briefly took a lead in the third. Tanner Ludtke's power play goal in overtime won the match and began a streak of winning hockey for the Mavs. Omaha lost just once more until the end of the regular season which was in no small part to Latkoczy getting back on track and acting like a starting goaltender once more. The team's late surge got them into the top-20 and their sweep of #3 North Dakota in the finale put them into contention for the NCAA tournament.
As the playoffs began, Omaha sat in 11th place, which would have gotten them in the tournament if the season ended then. They received a bit of good fortune with their opponent in the first round, Colorado College. The Tigers were another team vying for a spot in the tournament and the quarterfinal series between the two could serve as a de facto elimination game. Whichever team won the series would be all but guaranteed a spot in the NCAA tournament and both played like it. Omaha got off to a good start and had a 3-goal lead just past the midway point of the game. However, the team got into penalty trouble in the second half and allowed CC to claw their way back. By the start of overtime, the Tigers were in total control of the game and Omaha could hardly get a shot on goal. Latkoczy played well to keep his team alive but 50 shot of the night from Colorado College found the back of the net and gave the home team a lead in the series.
The second game saw a similar pattern with CC peppering the Omaha goal with shots. This time, however, it was the Maverick power play that proved to be the difference. Two goals on the man-advantage led Omaha to the win and set up a showdown in game three. Colorado College got a lead in the first but Latkoczy shut the door afterwards and allowed Brock Bremer to become the hero with his game-winner in the third period.[3] The series win didn't change Omaha's place in the standings but did cement them as a tournament team. No matter what happened in the final week of the season, the Mavericks were guaranteed a spot in the tournament but they could improve their chances if they played well in Saint Paul.
The semifinal game turned into the Zach Urdahl show and the junior scored his first career hat-trick to lead Omaha to a win over North Dakota.[4] The following night, Omaha got an early lead over Denver but the nation's top offense proved too much for the Mavericks to handle and Pioneers scored the next four goals to win the title.[5]
Omaha had little time to lick their wounds as they were headed for a showdown against Minnesota in the NCAA tournament. Both team started slow and combined for only 13 shots on goal in the first period. After a sleepy 20 minutes, the two teams then went fully on the attack and nearly tripled the shot total in the middle frame. Omaha got on the board first with a Joaquim Lemay power play goal. The Mavs were nearly able to carry the lead into the third but the withering barrage finally dented the twice behind Latkoczy near the end of the period. UNO redoubled its efforts and got their lead back in less than five minutes thanks to Ty Mueller. However, Minnesota would not stay down and the Gophers scored twice more to take the lead and the game.[6]
