Making it to the second round of the CCHA playoffs during each of the past five years, UNO’s Eddie Del Grosso knows, was no easy feat.

Michigan State didn’t do it. Neither did Ohio State and Notre Dame. The only hockey teams that have are Miami, Michigan, Northern Michigan and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

But this year, the Mavs crave more.

It’s been five years now since the CCHA switched to its current playoff format. It’s true that the Mavs, Wildcats, RedHawks and Wolverines are the league’s lone squads to play in the second round every season during that span.

It’s also a fact that Northern, Miami and Michigan have made a habit of advancing to the conference semifinals in Detroit. Not only have the Mavs not joined the party at Joe Louis Arena, they’ve been swept out of the second round four years in a row.

UNO’s fifth straight go at “The Joe” happens this weekend, when the 18th-ranked Mavs play a best-of-three second-round series at No. 13 Ferris State. There’s simply no way the Mavs are going to be happy, Del Grosso said, unless they can find a way to beat the Bulldogs twice.

“Especially for all of the older guys, we’ve been here before — and we’re not satisfied,” said Del Grosso, a senior who on Thursday was announced as a finalist for the CCHA’s top offensive defenseman award. “We’ve been to the second round every year, and it’s nice, but for us it really doesn’t feel like an accomplishment. We’re just not ready to go home yet. It’s been our goal all year to get to The Joe, and now our opportunity is here.”

If the Mavs can accomplish their mission, they’ll not only do it during coach Dean Blais’ debut season in Omaha, they’ll be crashing the CCHA’s showcase event during their final year in the league.

UNO is set to join the WCHA in 2010-11, and the Mavs will have to start looking ahead to their impending league switch if Ferris State takes the series. In order for Blais’ team to have any shot at an at-large NCAA tournament bid, UNO has to make it to Detroit. Two losses this weekend, and the Mavs’ season is done.

But even though so much is on the line, UNO does not have the look of a desperate club as it arrives in Big Rapids, Mich. With a 10-3-1 record during their past 14 games, the Mavs are one of the hottest teams in the country.

During the second half, UNO ended long losing streaks against Notre Dame, Michigan and Miami. The Mavs handed No. 16 Northern Michigan two of its three losses in 2010. They swept the Wolverines for the first time in school history. They split series against then-No. 1 Miami and sixth-ranked Bemidji State, knocking off top 10 teams on back-to-back weekends.

UNO clearly is playing its best hockey during the most critical part of the season. It has made steady improvements — and remained healthy — every weekend since mid-January. Those are things the Mavs haven’t been able to do during the previous four years, ever since the CCHA scrapped its “Super Six” final and resumed inviting only four teams to Detroit.

Former UNO star Scott Parse was injured heading into the second round in both 2005-06 and 2006-07. Parse was too banged up to play at all during the second round of the 2007 CCHA playoffs. Then in 2008, the Mavs lost standout forward and captain Bryan Marshall, who injured his knee and had to sit out the final month of his senior season.

It wasn’t injuries that derailed UNO last winter. Instead, it was the Mavs’ confidence that was battered and bruised going into the playoffs following the most miserable second half in school history.

“Every year we’ve wanted to make it to The Joe, but it just hasn’t happened,” said senior forward Nick Fanto, the only Michigan native on UNO’s roster. “This year we all believe we have a real good chance of doing it. Everyone’s excited, and everybody has bought in.”

In no way do the Mavs believe this series at Ferris State will be easy. The Bulldogs are 13-3-2 at home. They’ve already handled UNO in Big Rapids this season, recording 2-0 and 3-1 victories when the teams met in December.

But Blais knows his players have been dreaming of this moment — and preparing for this weekend — all season long. UNO’s road to Detroit has been mapped out, it runs through Ferris State, and the coach said the Mavs are ready to seize the moment.

“If you would’ve asked our guys at the beginning of the year if we wanted to be in this position — winning one more series to get to The Joe — they all would’ve taken it,” Blais said. “Now here we are playing a Ferris State team that swept us earlier.

“I think we’ve really improved since then. How much has (Ferris State) improved? We’ll find out. Our biggest challenge is whether all of our guys are going to show up and perform. When we do that, we’ve shown we can play with anybody.”

Contact the writer:

444-1207, chad.purcell@owh.com

« Sports - Mavs Today

Share