Early history (1995–1999) In June 1995, the University of Nebraska Omaha began talks with local hockey supporters on the feasibility of a varsity men's ice hockey program. Shortly thereafter, the school re-hired long-time
Athletic Director Don Leahy. Leahy returned to the school after a ten-year absence to start the hockey program. On May 1, 1996, the university announced that they would add a varsity men's ice hockey team for the 1997–98 season. Kemp had spent the previous 14 years as an assistant and head recruiter for the
University of Wisconsin, helping them to nine NCAA tournament appearances and a
national championship in 1990. Kemp hired former NHL first round draft choice
David Quinn as his top assistant and head recruiter, and set about recruiting a team for the 1997 season. UNO played its first season as an Independent in 1997-98. On October 17, 1997, a sellout crowd at the Civic Auditorium saw the team for the first time in a 3–2 exhibition loss to the
University of Manitoba. Despite a midseason ten-game losing streak, the Mavericks finished with an encouraging 12–18–3 record. The Mavericks earned a surprising sweep over traditional powerhouse
Denver and a 4–3 road victory over
Maine, a night after losing 11–0. UNO would become a full member of the conference starting with the 1999–2000 season. The Mavericks struggled in their second season as an independent, starting the season 2–18–0 en route to an 11–24–0 record. UNO won only one of seven games against future CCHA opponents, a 6–1 victory over
Bowling Green. Despite the poor record, the school once again sold out all of its home games, finishing third in the NCAA in home attendance. The Mavericks took the best-of-three first-round series at fourth-seeded
Northern Michigan. In other first-round action, eighth-seeded
Bowling Green upset
Lake Superior State; the Falcons' victory meant that the Civic Auditorium would host a one-game playoff for the right to go to the CCHA Final Four. In front of a sellout raucous home crowd, the Mavericks won 3–1 in a game that became known in Maverick lore as simply "Tuesday Night". The Mavericks kept the
Cinderella run alive at the Final Four, as they stunned top-seeded
Michigan 7–4 in front of a pro-Michigan crowd at
Joe Louis Arena. UNO entered the tournament final against
Michigan State one game away from qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in their first year as a CCHA member. After the teams entered the first intermission scoreless, the Spartans scored three goals over a 5:29 span in the second period to break the game open en route to a 6–0 victory. On the heels of their surprising run at the 2000 CCHA Tournament, the Mavericks began the season ranked number 13 in the USCHO.com Poll and number 14 in the
USA Today poll, the first time the Mavericks had been nationally ranked in their short history. The Mavericks hosted the Maverick Stampede for the first time that year, a four-team season opening tournament that has been held in each year since 2000. The UNO topped
Niagara in the tournament before falling to 4th-ranked
Boston College in the final. The team eventually put things together, finishing with the school's first winning record at 24–15–3. After falling out of both polls by midseason, the Mavericks were ranked #13 in the final USCHO.com and USA Today polls, although they again came up just short of the then-12 team
NCAA Tournament. The 24 victories are still a Maverick record for a single season. Sophomore David Brisson tallied 22 goals and 47 points, shattering the team record in both categories that he had set a year earlier (17, 32). The 2001–02 season was a mixture of success and disappointment for UNO. For the second consecutive year, UNO posted more than 20 wins, finishing 21–16–4. Zanon again was named second-team All-America; he was joined on the team by
Jeff Hoggan, who topped Brisson's school record with 24 goals. However, the team again failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, a disappointment given that the team had been ranked as high as #5 in both major polls early in the season The 2002–03 would be the last in which UNO was a full-time tenant of the Civic Auditorium after selling out all 131 games that they played in the arena. Following the season, they would move to the newly constructed 14,700-seat
Qwest Center Omaha. The following season, 2003–04, was the Mavericks' worst to date, as a young UNO team finished last in the conference with an 8–26–5 record. Despite this, the Mavericks continued to draw fans; although the team was unable to sell out the new arena, they finished fourth in the NCAA in attendance. The Mavericks rebounded the following season to finish 19–16–4. The team was led by a promising set of young players. Sophomore
Scott Parse tallied a team-high 49 points, and freshman
Bill Thomas added 45 more. Following the season, Thomas was named CCHA Freshman of the Year and Kemp was named CCHA Coach of the Year, the first two major awards in the program's history. Thomas scored a team-record 27 goals, combining with Parse to form the most potent first line in UNO history. The two helped the Mavericks to 141 goals, the most in the CCHA. The team struggled defensively after the previous year's goaltender
Chris Holt signed with the
New York Rangers in the offseason. Walk-on freshman Jerad Kaufmann – the third-string goalie at the beginning of the season – eventually laid claim to the job. UNO's inexperience eventually got the best of the team, as they were dominated by
Boston University in a 9–2 loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Terriers broke open a 1–1 game with a six-goal second period to end UNO's first NCAA Tournament appearance. Once again, the Mavericks could not build on their successes in the following seasons, as they finished in the middle of the pack each year in the conference. The squad finished two games over .500 in 2006–07, followed by finishing two games under .500 for the next two seasons. Alberts immediately began overhauling the hockey program. Kemp had one year remaining on his contract as coach and had little chance for an extension following the team's failure to build on the success of the 2006 NCAA Tournament team. Not willing to let go of the only coach the program had ever had, Alberts promoted Kemp to Associate Athletic Director and placed him in charge of the hockey program. With Blais on board, observers quickly began speculating that UNO would join the
WCHA. With the men's side of
College Hockey America breaking up following the 2009–10 season,
Bemidji State submitted an application to be the WCHA's 11th member. The Mavericks once again finished in the middle of the conference in their final season in the CCHA, although they did finish with 20 wins for only the third time in school history, with a 20–16–6 record. The team struggled early in the season before finishing strong in Blais's first season with the team, finishing the regular season 10–3–1 over their last fourteen games before being stopped by
Ferris State in the CCHA playoffs. vs.
Michigan on March 25, 2011. UNO joined the WCHA as a full-time member starting with the 2010–11 season. The Mavericks started the season on a positive note, as they stunned
Minnesota with a two-game sweep at
Mariucci Arena in their first ever conference battle. UNO continued its hot start through the beginning of November by winning seven of their first eight games. The team was ranked #6 and #7 in the two major polls, their highest ranking since 2001. The Mavericks ended the regular season 3rd in the WCHA with a conference record of 17-9-2 and advanced to their first ever
WCHA Tournament before being upset with a two-game sweep in the first round by 10th seeded Bemidji State. Despite the loss the Mavericks qualified for the
2011 NCAA Tournament ranked 14th in the National Pairwise rankings. UNO received a 3rd seed in the West Regional, located in
St. Louis, Missouri and played 2nd seeded
Michigan in the first round. The first period ended with UNO up 2-0 but the Wolverines rallied in the second period and both teams went scoreless in the third, sending the game to overtime. The Mavericks' season came to an end 2:35 into overtime after a shot off a faceoff by and rebound goal by Wolverine sophomore, Kevin Lynch, followed by a ten-minute review to confirm the goal. ==Season-by-season results==