Blais encouraged by Mavs' veteran leadership




From left to right: Senior Joey Martin (14), Sophomore Bryce Aneloski (24),
 Senior Rich Purslow (9), Junior Alex Hudson (26), and Senior Matt Ambroz (27).

 

The Mavs stand at 4-0 and 10^th in the polls and much of that credit goes to the veterans on the team. UNO head coach Dean Blais said his staff questioned that same leadership entering the season.

“We questioned our leadership and character at the start of the year,” said Blais.  “‘Do we have guys filling those Captain roles?’...you can say as much as you want, but as a coach if you don’t have that leadership in the locker room, you don’t have a lot - we’ve had it.”

The Mavs were able to come into a difficult Mariucci Arena and sweep a talented Minnesota Gophers team featuring 17 NHL draft picks.  The Mavs won 5-4 on Friday night and 4-2 on Saturday night, earning their first series sweep away from home in the Dean Blais era.

 “I thought we learned how to win on the road last year in the second half,” said Blais.  “We went into No. 1 Miami and beat them. We beat Notre Dame, but we didn’t have enough character leadership and experience [last year] and we do now.”

One of those veterans highlighted by Blais was junior forward Alex Hudson.  Hudson led the Mavericks with two goals in Friday night’s victory - the second coming with 96 seconds remaining in the game. The Gophers had erased a four goal deficit via the stick of senior forward Jay Barriball with 3:14 remaining, at which point Hudson showed his leadership abilities.

 “[Hudson] said ‘hey we’re still going to win this thing, we’re going to find a way’,” said Blais. “You got to give Hudson, [Terry] Broadhurst, [Matt] Ambroz credit for going out and doing the job. We didn’t have to say anything…that’s when you look at character and leadership and the older guys are the ones that did it.  It wasn’t the freshmen that said it.  It was the older guys that believe in each other.”

Hudson downplayed his role in motivating the bench, instead pointing to his coach's role.

“Dean said, 'get out there and get it going,' and I said, 'alright',” said Hudson.  “The confidence he put in us - I just wanted to go out there and if I got a chance I was going to bury it.”

In addition to Hudson’s play, the Mavs have benefited from the play of senior forward Matt Ambroz, who scored twice over the weekend.

“Matt’s one of the Captains and he’s been doing it since I met him last year,” said Blais.  “Matt has really stepped his game up.”

The Mavs will need every ounce of leadership this coming weekend as they travel to Ann Arbor, Mich. for a series against the Michigan Wolverines.  The former CCHA foe enters the weekend series ranked 4^th in the nation, while the Mavs come to Yost Arena as the No. 10 team in the nation.

“We’ve got to go back to work because we’re going to Michigan and I haven’t won there before in my career,” said senior defenseman Eric Olimb.  “We’ve got to get focused again.”