Nov. 5—OMAHA, Neb. — Omaha has had plenty of success working the NCAA transfer portal.
Its top four scorers last season were NCAA transfers.
But the Mavericks completely stayed out of the portal this offseason. They instead had one of the most unique roster rebuilds in the country.
Omaha took advantage of a change in college hockey rules that allowed Canadian major junior players to keep their eligibility for the first time in 50 years. But the Mavericks didn’t just go after players in the three Canadian major junior leagues.
They went after former CHL players, who had moved on to the university level in Canada.
Omaha brought in seven Canadian USport transfers — more than double any other team in the country. Bemidji State, Niagara, Lindenwood brought in three.
The USport transfers are making major waves for the 4-2 Mavericks.
Maxime Pellerin, who played one year at McGill University, leads Omaha in goals (five) and points (eight) through the first month of the season.
Pellerin plays first-line right wing. His center on the top line is Sean Tschigerl from the University of Alberta. Tschigerl is an Anaheim Ducks pick.
Defensemen Marc Lajoie and Aidan de la Gorgendiere, both of the University of Alberta, rank No. 2 and 3 in average minutes per game.
Forward Brett Hyland, who missed last weekend’s series, is one of three NHL Draft picks on the roster. Hyland, who played a year at Alberta, is a seventh-round pick of the Washington Capitals.
In all, Omaha has 14 new players in the roster this season, and 12 of them played in the CHL.
“I think you’re seeing these guys look like they’re 16 or 17 again,” Gabinet said. “That runway just got a lot longer for them. They’re able to develop and train and work out. The CHL schedule is pretty demanding for a lot of these guys for a lot of years.
“To see these guys train a little more, a little less games, a little bit more training, a little bit more development, a little bit less of that pro model, a little bit more of a development model. . . I think it’s pretty great for them to get to experience that and just what college hockey has to offer — all the venues we play in and how important all the games are. I’m really excited to see these guys just continue their development.”
Perhaps nobody in college hockey has a deeper connection to USports than Gabinet.
Gabinet spent four seasons coaching the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology before joining Dean Blais’ staff at Omaha in 2016.
“We thought, strategically, maybe not everyone thought about that,” Gabinet said of recruiting USport players. “We thought to investigate a (former) CHL player that was maybe just one year older, so to speak. Being from Alberta, growing up around USports there, I always valued it. I had some buddies that went through that program there. Some really good hockey players come out of the USport system.”
Gabinet’s grandfather, Clare Drake, was a legendary head coach at the University of Alberta. He spent 26 years there and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017.
Gabinet recruited Alberta’s four best players.
“I know how good of a job that program has done with players,” Gabinet said. “Obviously, I have some pretty close personal ties with a few of those recruits as well. It’s kind of nice when you recruit a player when they’re younger, and if they’re a first-round CHL pick, they’re usually going that route. Now, for these guys to have a second chance to continue their development and play at an elite program like ours, where we really focus on development and grow, it’s kind of fun.”
Even though UND and Omaha played four times last season — including a best-of-three playoff series in Baxter Arena — there’s a lot of unfamiliarity.
There are 29 new players players between the programs — more than half of each team’s roster.
“They have a lot of French Canadian guys,” UND sophomore forward Mac Swanson said. “I don’t even know how to pronounced some of their names. I think it’s just the new landscape of college hockey, where you can get guys from anywhere. I think they’ve done a good job of getting guys from different leagues. Obviously, they’ve had a good start to the year.”
When: 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Where: Baxter Arena.
Radio: The Fox (96.1 FM).
Stream: NCHChockey.com.
