Box Score Box Score

OMAHA, Neb. – Ryan Walters scored halfway through the third period, and the UNO Mavericks won a see-saw battle, beating the second-ranked Colorado College, 7-5 on Friday night at the CenturyLink Center.

The Mavericks improved to 4-3-0 on the year and 4-1-0 in the WCHA.  The Tigers suffered their first loss of the year, dropping to 4-1-0 and 2-1-0 in league play.  The two teams finish the series on Saturday night at 7:07 p.m.

Colorado College got its first lead of the game at 7:48 of third period when David Civitarese jammed in the puck past Dayn Belfour, who came in to start the period in relief of John Faulkner.  That goal made it 5-4.

But just 2:13 later, Jayson Megna tied it, backhanding home a pass from Brent Gwidt for his second goal of the game.

The game-winner came 24 seconds later.  Mike Young took a wrist shot from the near point that Walters steered past goalie Joe Howe for his first goal of the year.

Matt White added an empty net goal at 19:25, his second goal of the night, to ice it.

The frantic finish mirrored a wild start.  One week after giving up 3-0 leads to Wisconsin on back-to-back night, the Mavericks turned the trick themselves.  Terry Broadhurst took a nifty feed from Johnnie Searfoss and slipped the puck under Howe for his team-leading eighth goal of the year.  It came just 37 seconds into the game.

The Mavericks cashed in on their first power play less than four minutes later.  Broadhurst slipped the puck across the crease to Jayson Megna who knocked in his second goal of the season.

The Mavs' lead grew to 3-0 while they skated shorthanded.  Broadhurst made a steal at center ice and flipped the puck down the right wing to White.  He pulled up at the face-off circle and fired a slap shot under Howe to make it 3-0.

Colorado College got a goal back before intermission when Omaha native Nick Dineen converted a pass from Rylan Schwartz for a power play goal at 13:46.

The Mavericks got the goal back on a power play just 1:52 into the second period.  Young fired a shot from the top of the slot that Josh Archibald tipped, allowing the puck to squirt through Howe.

UNO protected the 4-1 lead until the Tigers erupted late in the period.  Dineen scored another powerplay goal at 16:29, Tim Hall tallied 1:04 later and Alexander Krushelnyski knocked in a goal at 18:30.  In all, the Tigers scored three goals in 2:01 to knot the game at the break.

White led all scorers with four  points (2-2-4) while Broadhurst and Young each had three (1-2-3).  Belfour made nine saves in the third period to earn his first collegiate win.  Howe suffered his first loss with 28 saves.