When he was in high school, Josh Archibald's road games typically involved a bus ride somewhere within the state of Minnesota.

With UNO, the freshman's first road swing will feature four flights across four North American time zones. And that's only the itinerary one way this weekend as the Mavs travel from Omaha to Alaska.

"Yeah," Archibald said, laughing. "This is definitely going to be my first real long trip."

If the first few weeks of his college career are any indication, Archibald won't have any problem adapting to the rigors of the road. So far, the 17-year-old rookie has made the transition from playing prep pucks to skating at the NCAA level look surprisingly easy.

The 5-foot-10, 170-pound forward from Brainerd, Minn., already has made a splash with the Mavs. Starting with the University of Nebraska at Omaha's exhibition victory over British Columbia on Oct. 1, he's scored a goal in each of the first three games of his career. That included a pair of goals last weekend as the Mavs split games against Mercyhurst and Colgate at the Mutual of Omaha Stampede.

"It is a boost in confidence for me getting some goals to go in here right out of the gate," Archibald said. "But it's not all me. A lot of the credit goes to my linemates making great passes and doing the dirty work in the corner. I think I've kind of been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time."

In college hockey, it's the norm for a freshman to arrive on campus in his 20s after skating in the junior ranks for a few seasons. Only a handful of players each year make the jump straight from high school to the NCAA. Archibald is the youngest player on the Mavs' roster since former UNO goalie Jeremie Dupont came to Omaha as a 17-year old in 2006.

Archibald has stood out because of his speed, and he's shown a willingness to work along the boards and be physical, too. It's that combination of skills that made the Pittsburgh Penguins select Archibald in the sixth round during this summer's NHL entry draft. those same abilities enticed UNO coach Dean Blais to bring in the freshman early.

It's never a given that success at a lower level will translate as a player moves up in his sport. But Blais said it seemed clear that Archibald's dominance in high school was no mirage.

At Brainerd last season, Archibald piled up 27 goals and 46 assists in only 25 games. Blais also said he took comfort knowing that Archibald had received strong coaching from his father, Jim. He was star at North Dakota in the 1980s when Blais was a Sioux assistant.

"Josh is playing like we'd hoped he'd play," Blais said. "We didn't know he'd be getting so many scoring opportunities — and a lot of them are ones that he's generated. He's moving with the puck and driving to the net, even though he hasn't always scored when he's done that. But he's found a way to get the puck in the net, and that's the sign of a good hockey player."

Coming off a 4-3 loss to Colgate, Archibald and the Mavs will look to keep improving this weekend when they take on both Alaska schools at the Goal Rush tournament in Fairbanks. UNO plays current WCHA foe Alaska Anchorage on Friday night. The 15th-ranked Mavs then battle former CCHA rival Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday.

Blais said UNO (1-1-0) needs to learn lessons from its loss to Colgate, which used its experience and leadership to pull away from the Mavs in the second period last weekend.

Archibald said that process is well under way for a UNO team that relies heavily on freshmen and sophomores.

"We're definitely hungry to bounce back after the Colgate game," Archibald said. "It's going to be a long trip flying up there, so we're going to have to find a way to get our legs under us right away. But we're not looking back at that last loss as a big negative. We're going to use it, learn from our mistakes and hopefully turn it into a positive."

Contact the writer:

402-444-1207, chad.purcell@owh.com

twitter.com/CPurcellOWH

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