Box Score OMAHA, Neb. – Austin Ortega tied the NCAA record with his 10th game-winning goal, and the No. 4 Omaha hockey team beat Western Michigan, 3-1, on Saturday night at the CenturyLink Center.

The Mavericks earned the split of the weekend series with the Broncos and improved to 17-8-3 overall and 11-6-1-1 in the NCHC, putting them in a tie with North Dakota and Miami for first place.  Western Michigan dipped to 12-12-4 overall and 5-9-4-3 in conference play, good for seventh.

Ortega's goal came during a five-minute power play in the second period as the Mavericks stretched a 1-0 lead into a 3-0 advantage.  Ortega picked up his team-leading and career best 16th goal of the year.  He corralled the ricochet of a shot by Jake Guentzel and flipped the puck past goalie Frank Slubowski at 10:06.

Just 1:06 later, Justin Parizek made it 3-0 when he walked off the left wing wall and zipped a shot to the top corner for his ninth goal of the year.  It was his first in the last 10 games.

Ortega's goal turned out to be the game winner when Western Michigan's Sheldon Dries scored at 19:34 to make it 3-1 and ruin Ryan Massa's shutout bid.  Still, Massa finished with 28 saves to earn his career-best 12th win of the season.

Ortega tied seven other players for the NCAA record in game-winning goals.  The most recent to tie the record was New Hampshire's Colin Hemingway in 2002.  Ortega currently leads the NCAA.

The Mavericks got the game's first goal with the two teams skating four-on-four.  A good poke check from Luc Snuggerud at the UNO blue line, started a rush for Ortega and David Pope.  Ortega fed Pope at the right face-off circle, and he fired a shot over the glove hand of Slubowski at 19:09.

Omaha finished the season series with a record of 3-1-0 against Western Michigan and improved to 18-10-6 vs. WMU all-time.

The Mavericks are on the road for the next two weekends beginning Feb. 20-21 when they visit St. Cloud State.