Box Score DENVER, Colo. – Colin Staub scored at 8:54 of the second overtime to give No. 6 Denver a 4-3 win over the No. 17 Omaha hockey team and a sweep of their NCHC quarterfinal series.
The Mavericks ended the conference playoff run with their eighth straight loss, most likely knocking them out of position for an NCAA playoff berth. They are now 18-17-1. Denver won its 11th straight game, improving to 23-8-5. The Pioneers advance to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff in Minneapolis next weekend.
On the winning goal, Emil Romig jammed the puck into the crease and Staub was able to poke it past
Evan Weninger, igniting a celebration among the Pioneers and their fans. The goal ended the third-longest game in UNO history at 88:54.
Weninger stopped a career-high 46 shots but took the loss while Tanner Jaillet made a game-high 51 saves for DU. UNO outshot DU, 54-50.
Denver got on the board first when Quentin Shore snuck in from the right wing and tapped home a pass from Nolan Zajac at 5:29.
Zajac again was the setup man as DU stretched its lead at 17:14 of the period. He jumped around a Maverick defender and passed to Troy Terry who had an easy tap in for his eighth goal of the year.
The Mavericks got on the board courtesy of a five-on-three power play halfway through the second period.
Austin Ortega set up
Jake Guentzel for a blast that slid under goalie Tanner Jaillet for his career-best 19th goal of the year.
A little more than five minutes later, the Mavericks tied the game while killing a penalty. Ortega sped down the right wing and fired a shot that was blocked but he grabbed the rebound and beat Jaillet with an improbable shot from a sharp angle at 16:29. It was his first goal in nine games.
In the third, Denver retook the lead when Danton Heinen got free for a breakaway, beating Weninger with a snap shot at 1:31.
But the Mavericks tied the game again on a power play just 2:26 later. Guentzel fed a cross-ice pass to Ortega who had to knock the pass out of the air for his career-best 21st goal of the season.
If this indeed was UNO's last game of the season, Guentzel finished the season as the Mavericks leading scorer with 19 goals and 27 assists for 46 points. The goal and point total were career bests while the assist total tied his career best set during his freshman year.
The goals gave Ortega UNO's goal-scoring lead for the second straight season.
