Notre Dame Hockey

Who: Omaha (2-1-0) at Notre Dame (3-2-1).

When: Thursday and Friday nights at 7:35 p.m. ET.

Where: Lefty Smith Rink at Compton Family Ice Arena, South Bend.

Tickets: Available.

TV: NBC Sports Chicago Plus. Radio: WZOC-FM (94.3).

Series: Notre Dame leads 18-10-4. Last meeting: Notre Dame won 3-2 Oct. 13, 2012 at the Ice Breaker Tournament championship game in Kansas City, Mo.

Scouting the Mavericks: Omaha, a former member of the now defunct Central Collegiate Hockey Association with Notre Dame, now plays in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. … Under first-year head coach Mike Gabinet, a former Mavericks defenseman, the team is 2-1-1 following a 5-1 win and 4-4 overtime tie with Arizona State. … The Mavericks split a two-game series at UMass Lowell Oct. 13-14. … Forwards Tyler Vesel (3 goals-3 assists), Steven Spinner (1-4), Mason Morelli (2-2) and Fredrik Olofsson (1-3) are the leading scorers. … Junior Evan Weninger started the first three games in goal and has a 2.34 goals-against average and .916 saves percentage. … Omaha is tied for fifth on the power play at 33.3 percent (6 of 18 chances) and is 26th in penalty kill at 81.2 percent (13 of 16).

Scouting the Irish: Notre Dame is ranked No. 8 in the USCHO.com (media) poll and tied for No. 8 (with Clarkson) in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine (coaches) poll following a home split last week with Sacred Heart (6-4 loss Thursday, 3-1 victory Friday). … Senior C Jake Evans leads the Irish with 8 points (3 goals, 5 assists), one point ahead of junior RW Andrew Oglevie (4-3) and senior D Jordan Gross (2-5), who leads the nation in shots with 30. … Irish coach Jeff Jackson again plans to give sophomore Cale Morris and freshman Dylan St. Cyr a start in goal. … St. Cyr gave up five goals in the loss to Sacred Heart and enters with a 2.29 goals-against average and .936 saves percentage, while Morris got the win against Sacred Heart and comes in with a 2.34 average and .919 saves percentage. … The Irish power play is tied for second in the country with Lake Superior at 35 percent (7 of 20 chances) behind Mercyhurst (38.1 percent), while Notre Dame ranks 10th in penalty kill at 88.9 percent (16 of 18). … Junior F Joe Wegwerth, who had three goals last week, will miss the series with a lower-body injury but is expected back when Notre Dame opens its inaugural season as a Big Ten Conference affiliate with a two-game series at Ohio State Nov. 3-4.

Quoting Jeff Jackson: “For me is about making sure we’re mentally prepared and engaged for every game regardless who the opponent is. … We’ve had three games in a row now that we’ve lost the third period; that’s not a trademark of our program. … That has to be our best period not our worst. … Omaha does a lot of good things offensively. … (The Mavericks’ split) at Lowell tells me something.”