Box Score OMAHA, Neb. –
Austin Ortega scored his sixth game-winning goal of the season midway through the third period to help the Omaha hockey team finish off a sweep of St. Cloud State, 5-3, on Saturday night at the CenturyLink Center.
The Mavericks improved to 10-4-2 overall and 6-3-1-1 in the NCHC, good for third place and just one point behind Miami and Minnesota Duluth for first. St. Cloud State lost its third straight, falling to 6-9-1 overall and 2-5-1-0 in the conference, putting it in seventh.
With the Mavericks leading 3-2 entering the third, the Huskies tied the game at 4:36 when Jimmy Murray concluded off a 3-on-1 by firing home a pass from David Morley for his second goal of the year.
But Ortega continued his clutch play for UNO by finishing off a nifty passing play with linemates
Jake Guentzel and
Dominic Zombo. Guentzel held the puck inside the Huskies' blue line before hitting Zombo at the right wing. Zombo wasted no time feeding the puck back across the ice to Ortega who flicked home his team-leading ninth goal of the year.
Justin Parizek scored into an empty net with 3.7 seconds remaining to secure Omaha's third series sweep of the season.
The Mavericks got off to a quick start, seizing the lead when
Brian Cooper took a pass out of the left corner from
Jake Randolph and snapped it past goalie Charlie Lindgren for his career-best third goal of the season.
The Huskies answered on the power play at 7:11. Jonny Brodzinski picked up his NCAA-leading seventh powerplay goal when he fired a shot from just inside the blue line that beat a screened
Ryan Massa to the top corner.
A lucky bounce put the Huskies in front later in the first. The Mavericks tried to clear the puck around the glass, but it ricocheted off a support to the low slot. Freshman Judd Peterson picked it up and wristed it past Massa for his first collegiate goal.
The Mavericks got some bounces of their own to tie the game and then take the lead in the second period. First,
Tyler Vesel broke down the right wing off a pass from Randolph. He started to run out of room so he fired the puck on goal from below the goal line, sneaking the puck between Lindgren and the post for his fourth goal of the year.
Later in the period,
James Polk scored on the same play from the opposite wing. He fired the puck off Lindgren while skating below the goal line on the left wing for his first goal and point of the year.
Massa, who set a career high with 47 saves in a 3-2 win the night before, needed to make just 24 to secure his ninth win of the season (9-3-2). Lindgren stopped 27 shots in the loss.
With six game-winning goals, Ortega is now tied with Andrew Wong and
Josh Archibald for the school record for game winners in a season. He also ranks second in the NCAA, one behind Miami's Sean Kuraly.
Randolph was UNO's leading point man with three assists. He is now second in freshman scoring (3-13-16) in the NCHC, one point behind Denver's Danton Heinen.
The Mavericks begin a string of four non-conference games when they host Alabama-Huntsville of the WCHA on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 20-21.
