It's still early, but it may be time for the UNO hockey team to at least start coming of age.
The Mavericks, off to a 1-3 start, play their opening WCHA series this weekend at home with Alaska-Anchorage. The Seawolves, 3-0-1, who beat UNO 3-0 in a nonconference game last weekend in Alaska, come to CenturyLink Center for games at 7:37 Friday night and 7:07 Saturday night.
"It's definitely too early to panic," UNO captain Terry Broadhurst said. "I think we're going to be all right. Obviously this isn't how we wanted to start.
"But we have to put it behind us and learn from it, keep that feeling of losing in our stomachs and realize it's not something we want."
A young Mav team — 20 of the 27 players are either freshmen or sophomores — is still learning, coach Dean Blais said. Part of the reason for that, he said, is that full practice sessions aren't allowed until Oct. 1, which coincided with UNO's exhibition game.
"We're still trying to do things we should have done before," Blais said.
The good news is that UNO's young roster will be that much further ahead next season at this time. More concerning is how much longer it will take to get up to speed.
"If anything it's a mentality," said Broadhurst, a junior left wing. "It's coming to the rink every day and being good. When you're a little younger, it's not that you don't have that mentality, but you're not used to the college grind of it. We as older guys need to make sure the younger guys understand that, because every team has skill, every team is good. ... It's mental toughness and winning attitude that takes teams to the next level."
On last weekend's grueling road trip, UNO followed up its loss to UAA with a 4-1 setback against host Alaska the following night. But Blais and players said the Mavs have responded well since returning.
"We're trying to get in physical shape so that we don't make mental mistakes," Blais said. "A lot of mistakes we made in Alaska were due to fatigue — they're things that can be corrected."
Sophomore center Brock Montpetit said UNO feels like its conditioning is at a high level. It just takes too long for it to surface.
The Mavs have trailed after two periods in each of their last three games, all losses. Alaska-Anchorage scored all three of its goals in the second period, while Alaska led 2-0 after two.
"We're having trouble creating offense and putting the puck in the net, but I think we're really wearing teams down in the third period and taking over games," Montpetit said. "We have to beat teams in the first and second periods so that when the third period comes we can really bury them."
Leadership and offensive contributions return this weekend in the form of senior center Alex Hudson, who'll make his season debut after sitting out during a suspension.
"We've asked a couple of wingers (Brent Gwidt and Johnnie Searfoss) to play center," Blais said. "They tried to do their best, but you need a guy who's played the position. They didn't do a poor job, but it's not their natural spot."
Hudson had 13 goals and 18 assists last year and is UNO's leading returning scorer.
The series represents the first league contests for UNO since conference realignment struck over the summer. UNO is headed for the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference in 2013-14, while the Seawolves will stay in a reconstituted WCHA.
With so many teams moving in different directions, grudges and other forms of discontent figure to be low. UNO's main focus is on growing up fast.
"There's probably a lot of people saying we're not that good, that we're too young," Broadhurst said. "We're still confident in our ability. We've got a chip on our shoulder, and we want to prove that we're a good team."
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