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Omaha Athletics

Goal Celebration at UMass Lowell
Richard T. Gagnon
The Mavericks celebrate Tyler Vesel's goal that opened the scoring in a 4-2 win at UMass Lowell in UNO's season opener.
4
Winner Omaha OMAHA 1-0-0
2
UMass Lowell UML 0-3-0
Winner
Omaha OMAHA
1-0-0
4
Final
2
UMass Lowell UML
0-3-0
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
Omaha OMAHA 2 2 0 4
UMass Lowell UML 0 1 1 2

Game Recap: Hockey |

Omaha Wins Season Opener at UML, 4-2

LOWELL, Mass. – Joel Messner had two goals and an assist to lead the Omaha hockey team to a 4-2 win over No. 12 UMass Lowell on Friday night at Tsongas Center.

Messner helped make head coach Mike Gabinet a winner in his UNO debut as the Mavericks built a 4-0 lead and held on against the River Hawks who are now 0-3-0 to start the season.

The Mavericks withstood some early pressure from the River Hawks aided by a pair of UML power plays.  Evan Weninger made several saves in heavy traffic to keep the game scoreless before the Mavericks got on the board midway through the period.

Tyler Vesel scooped a loose puck in the slot and beat UML goalie Tyler Wall with a shot that was actually deflected by one of his teammates.

The Mavericks stretched their lead with one second to go in the period.  While on the power play, Vesel won the face off back to Messner whose shot was redirected through the five hole of Wall.  The goal was a bit of good luck the Mavericks who got the offensive zone face off only because one of the UML players had fired the puck out of play.

Messner, who had two career goals entering the season, scored his second of the night at 7:02 of the second period.  He took a rink-wide pass from Jordan Klehr and beat Wall with a wrist shot to the top corner to make it 3-0.

Fredrik Olofsson scored on a similar shot to boost UNO's lead.  Coming into the UML zone, he collected a pass from Steven Spinner and fired a shot over the glove of Wall at 10:51.

The River Hawks got on the board on a power play late in the period.  Tommy Panico got free during a net-mouth scramble and threw the puck past Evan Weninger who was down on the ice.

Tyler Mueller added a power play goal with 15 seconds remaining in the game to close the scoring.

The two teams finish the series on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. CT.

NOTES:
  • Each team had 31 shots on goal.
  • The Mavericks went 1-for-6 on the power play while the River Hawks went 2-for-5.
  • Messner played in his 100th career game while Weninger appeared in his 50th.
  • UNO improved to 4-1-0 all-time against UMass Lowell.  Friday's game marked their first game played in Lowell, Mass.
Three Stars:  1.) Messner; 2.) Vesel; 3.) Tommy Panico
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