There weren't many nights during the 2009-10 hockey season when UNO didn't take care of business at home. The Mavs have a tradition of gathering with their fans and singing the school song after each home win, and these skaters' vocal chords have gotten a workout this winter.

That's a big reason why coach Dean Blais' first year on the Mavericks' bench already can go into the books as one of the best in program history.

After sweeping its first-round CCHA playoff series against Bowling Green — routing the Falcons on back-to-back nights by identical scores of 6-1 — No. 20 UNO will carry a heap of momentum into its second-round showdown this weekend at No. 13 Ferris State.

The University of Nebraska at Omaha, now 10-3-1 since mid-January, has reached the 20-win mark for just the fourth time in school history. If the Mavericks win twice at Ferris State, they would make it back to “The Joe” in Detroit for the first time in five years.

Now that the ice will be removed at Qwest Center Omaha for the spring and summer, it's worth noting how well the Mavs defended their own rink this season.

UNO finished 16-3-2 at home under Blais, the school's second-highest victory total. Only the 2000-01 squad, which went 17-5-1 at the Civic Auditorium, had more home wins.

But this year's home winning percentage of .810 is the best in program history, surpassing the 2000-01 team's .761 clip.

And if the good news is how well UNO did at home, the better news for the school is how many people came out to watch.

As has traditionally been the case for the CCHA playoffs, the Mavs again played in front of smaller-than-normal crowds this weekend against Bowling Green. Yet UNO's final average home attendance of 6,866 this year not only ranks fourth best in the NCAA, it's the school's best season-long turnout in six full years.

The Mavs' overall attendance numbers did benefit from crowds of 13,417 and 10,628 in February. But when you crunch the figures, it's still true that only Wisconsin, North Dakota and Minnesota have drawn bigger average crowds this winter than UNO.

“You always want to win at home, in front of the fans who support you and come in every night — that's really big,” said UNO senior Eddie DelGrosso, who on Saturday broke the school record for career points by a defenseman. “You want to give them a good show. So to have a good home record is huge, and it really sets you up for success.”

The only teams to exit the Qwest Center with victories in 2009-10 were No. 8 Bemidji State, 14th-ranked Alaska and Lake Superior State. Bowling Green and Ohio State both managed to work out ties at UNO's NHL-sized barn.

The Mavs this season notched impressive home wins over UMass Lowell, Alaska, Ohio State and Bemidji State. Red-hot Northern Michigan has lost only three games total so far in 2010. Two of them happened in Omaha, where UNO outscored the 19th-ranked Wildcats a combined 12-5 in January. And of course, the Mavs in February manhandled Michigan at the Qwest Center, where a two-night audience of almost 18,000 went crazy for the team's first-ever sweep over the hated Wolverines.

UNO's home success this year is just one more accomplishment that the team's seven seniors can feel good about. Don't forget that the Mavs had won a total of only 18 home games during the previous two seasons. When these seniors were sophomores in 2007-08, UNO finished 8-9-4 in Omaha.

The flip side is that this year's Mavericks went only 4-11-3 on the road. That includes a pair of December losses at Ferris State, where the Bulldogs swept the Mavs 2-0 and 3-1.

But Mike Hastings said there's good reason for UNO to believe that its road woes are a thing of the past. The schedule worked out where the Mavs played four of their last six regular-season series at home. During that stretch, UNO managed impressive road splits against both Notre Dame and then-No. 1 Miami.

“I think we've continued the positive of us playing well at home,” said Hastings, UNO's associate head coach. “But I think we've also stopped some of the negative (results) on the road. It was really important finishing the way we did — going to Notre Dame and winning a game there, winning in a Miami building that not many people have taken points out of. I think that's contributed to some of our confidence. It's a growing process. We're done playing at home, now we have to go on the road and grow some more this weekend.”

Ferris State also boasts an impressive home mark of 13-3-2 inside its 2,400-seat Ewigleben Ice Arena. The rink — a noisy, intimidating venue when full — is notorious for its fast surface and quirky bounces.

The Bulldogs were unbeaten at home until they got swept by Miami in mid-January. Ferris' only other loss at Ewigleben came on Feb. 6 against Northern Michigan. In addition to UNO, the list of teams to lose this season in Big Rapids, Mich., includes Ohio State (twice), Michigan and No. 11 Michigan State.

UNO has yet to win a second-round game since the CCHA adopted its current playoff format in 2005-06. The Mavs, now tied for 16th in the PairWise national power rankings, will need to take down the Bulldogs this weekend to have any shot at an at-large NCAA tournament bid. If Ferris wins the series, UNO's season will end.

But senior captain Jeric Agosta said nobody on the team is planning to pack away their skates just yet.

“We're playing hard right now, and we're a team that has a lot of confidence,” said Agosta, who buried his team-leading 15th goal of the season Saturday against Bowling Green. “It doesn't matter who we play now. We believe in each other, and that's been the main thing all year.”

Contact the writer:

444-1207, chad.purcell@owh.com

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