After enjoying a weekend off for the Thanksgiving holiday, the Mavericks were back in action this past weekend and faced a tough test featuring a home-and-home series against the Toledo Cherokee who were on a 13-game win streak heading into the weekend. The first game of the series saw the Mavericks traveling to Team Toledo Ice House on Friday night.

Showing that they had shaken off their dose of holiday tryptophan, the Cherokee jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first period with goals by Greg Obryicki, Vincent Servizzi, and Jacob Slater. Returning to the ice in the second period, the Cherokee added two more goals to extend the lead to 5 heading into the final intermission. While the Mavericks looked to mount a comeback attempt, the Cherokee’s Joey Cormier would stand tall in net and a scoreless third period would solidify a 5-0 Cherokee victory in the first game of the series. Zach Waizmann got the start in net for the Mavericks and turned away 29 of 34 shots on the night.

As the series shifted back to Columbus on Saturday night, the Mavericks were looking to right the ship. This hunger was apparent as the Mavericks drew first blood with a goal by Chance Settles at the 7:23 mark, assisted by Graham Wood. After Toledo’s Ondrej Dupal evened the score, Mavericks’ rookie, Colin Crowley tipped in a point shot from Brian Odstrchel (second assist by Thiago Jeronimo) in the final three minutes of the period to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. The Mavericks returned to the ice firing on all cylinders in the second period and extended their lead with an early goal by Tyler Isherwood, assisted by Eric Podgorny and Ryan Lempicki. As the period passed the half-way point, the Cherokee would answer back, drawing within a goal and sending the game into the second intermission with a 3-2 Mavericks lead. The Cherokee’s Nicklas Millhorn would score the lone goal in the third period, which would even the score and send the game into overtime. As the bonus period neared the half-way point, Mavericks defenseman, Nik Jozefiak, would bury a breakaway goal, assisted by Kevin Uhlir and Chance Settles to seal the Mavericks’ first victory over the Cherokee in program history, and snap Toledo’s 14-game win streak.

Frank Murphy stood tall between the pipes for the Mavericks, stopping 23 of 26 shots to take home his fifth win of the season.

The Mavericks are on the road this Thursday as they travel to Heritage Bank Arena to take on the Cincinnati Jr. Cyclones at 7:00 PM.