I had hockey for breakfast as I watched the Mavericks extend their winning streak to 7 games today by defeating the Wichita Thunder 5-3! This seventh win brings their record to 9-1-1-0 which is the best start in franchise history! Today’s win came in front of a sold-out crowd of school children from around the metro in KC’s second annual Kid’s Day Game, puck drop was at 10:35 this morning. There’s something special about this team and there is certainly much to be excited about.

The first period started out fast with Mavericks goaltender Ben Halford making two quick saves. It didn’t take long for the Mavericks to light the lamp with the first goal coming less than 3 minutes in. Greg Betzold scored a beautiful goal off of a juicy rebound at 2:25. Betz was assisted by Mark Cooper and Jared Van Wormer on the goal. With this assist, Cooper extended his points streak to 7 games! The energy of the kids in the stands had already been great but the goal just threw them into a frenzy.

For most of the rest of the period, it was a defensive show from both teams, with Halford making several more very great saves. But Wichita wouldn’t leave the frame scoreless. In the last 8 minutes or so the Mavericks started having some trouble clearing the puck from their zone and the inevitable happened at 17:34. Wichita’s Travis Brown let off a slap shot from the blue line and it sailed over Ben Halford’s right shoulder, with assists from Dyson Stephenson and Jeremy Beaudry. The period ended with a score of 1-1 with Wichita leading KC in shots 9 to 8.

Wichita won the opening faceoff of the second period and they dictated much of the first half period. Halford showed up to play and kept the Mavericks in the game. The defense was not very tight and allowed Wichita to get several quality scoring chances. Wichita eventually capitalized on these chances at 8:14 when Jared Wilson scored with an assist from Pierre-Cedric Labrie. However, this goal seemed to light a fire under the Mavericks. After going to the power play at 13:17 on a high stick call against Mitch Maloney, the Captain Rocco Carzo scored a beautiful power play goal at 13:45 with assists from Mark Cooper and Darian Dziurzynski!

Going into this game, Wichita was perfect on the penalty kill on the road. The Mavericks put Wichita’s record to bed. From that point on the Mavericks dominated the Thunder. The Mavs would score again in the second frame. At 18:08 it seemed like every Thunder player left the ice for a line change, and Ben Halford let a beautiful stretch pass go to Matt Robertson who got a breakaway and passed to Mike Panowyk who scored his first goal of the year. That had to be the worst line change I have ever seen in 10 years of watching hockey. The period ended with the Mavericks up 3-2 but with Wichita outshooting them 21 to 15.

The Mavericks’ dominance continued in the third period. The Mavericks got a power play at 1:41 when Dyson Stevenson was called for slashing. 59 seconds later at 2:40, Jared Van Wormer scored a spectacular unassisted power play goal! On the next play, Wichita was assessed a tripping penalty on Steven Iacobellis and 13 seconds later Darian Dziurzynski scored another power play goal with assists from Mark Cooper (his third assist of the game) and Willie Raskob!

At this point, the game was basically over and there was still more than 14 minutes to play. Wichita did manage to score with about 26 seconds left in regulation, but—as has been the case for many teams playing the Mavs this season—it was too little too late! The Mavericks won this game 5-3 bringing them to 9-1-1-0 on the season and kept them perfect at home!

This team is so much fun to watch. Over the past 10 seasons of Mavericks hockey, there have been a lot of fun teams, but this team is something else. They have very natural chemistry, and when they get going, they’re pretty much unstoppable. One of the things that really resonated with me today was when they were having some trouble with puck possession in the second period, Coach John-Scott Dickson shuffled some lines around and the team didn’t even skip a beat. Their ability to adjust on the fly and not give up is really something to see. This team is simply remarkable and I am so excited to see where they go this season.

Another great thing to see was the arena completely filled with close to 5,000 enthusiastic school kids. This team is very smart to do a promotion like school day because not only does it put a raucous crowd in Silverstein Eye Centers Arena, that is also 5000 kids who are going to go home and tell their family about how much fun they had at a hockey game. This is how you grow your fan base! The Mavericks are very dedicated to community outreach and today was a great example of this.

Hold on Mavericks fans, this season is going to be big!

Three Stars

First Star: Mark Cooper- With 3 assists today Cooper brings his season total to 19 points and extended his point streak to 7 games!

Second Star: Ben Halford- Halford made 31 saves on 34 shots and won his second straight game. After being re-signed to the team after Nick Schneider was called up to the Stockton Heat, Halford has proved himself to be a very capable goaltender.

Third Star: Jared Van Wormer- Worms had a goal and an assist in today’s game and continued to show his offensive prowess in his second season with the Mavericks. He now has 16 points on the season.

The Mavericks are on the road this weekend taking on the Wichita Thunder at Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita on Friday and Saturday.