OMAHA, Neb. – Sophomore Zach Jordan scored his first career hat trick to power the Omaha hockey team past No. 17 Minnesota Duluth 7-5 on Friday night at Baxter Arena.

David Pope added two power play goals, and Tyler Vesel, Mason Morelli and Fredrik Olofsson all had two assists as the Mavericks won their second game in NCHC play.  Omaha is now 7-7-1 overall and 2-5-0-0/0 in the conference.  UMD dipped to 7-9-2 overall and 2-7-0-0/0 in the NCHC.  The two teams are tied for seventh place.

The game turned in the second period.  Tied 3-3 after one, UMD defenseman Scott Perunovich beat goaltender Alex Blankenburg through a screen just 37 seconds into the period.  Blankenburg had come in for Evan Weninger who made eight saves and allowed three goals in the first.

The Mavericks battled back less than six minutes later.  Jordan tied it again when a shot by Morelli was deflected.  The puck dropped in front of Jordan who knocked it home for his second of the night.  It came on the heels of a five-on-three penalty kill by the Mavericks.

The see-saw continued to tip in the Mavericks' favor during a power play at 11:08.  Pope hammered home his second of the game, one-timing a pass from Joel Messner for his team-leading 10th goal of the season.

Jordan then completed his hat trick with 1:01 remaining in the period when Morelli found him open on the weak side.  Jordan fired home his eighth goal of the year past relief goaltender Nick Deery.

UMD caused some anxious moments for the Mavericks early in the third when Joey Anderson scored on a wraparound at 1:25.

But Luke Nogard restored the two goal lead at 9:50.  He pounced on the rebound of a shot by Jalen Schulz and tucked a backhander past Deery for his fourth of the year.

The Mavericks held off a late flurry during which UMD had more than two minutes of a six-on-five attacker advantage.

Omaha outshot the Bulldogs, 36-34.  Blankenburg, in his second appearance of the season, got his first win with 21 saves.  Hunter Shepard took the loss for UMD, allowing five goals on 23 shots before being lifted.  Deery allowed two goals and made 16 saves.

The Bulldog started fast, scoring 23 seconds into the game when former Maverick Avery Peterson one-timed a pass from Nick Wolff.

The Mavericks countered with two to take the lead.  First, Jordan banged in the rebound of a shot by Olofsson for his sixth goal of the season at 6:45.

A little more than five minutes later, Schulz finished off a two-on-one with Vesel.  He fired a shot just inside the far post for his first collegiate goal at 11:54.

The Bulldogs answered back when Jared Thomas grabbed a loose puck in the slot and fired a shot past Weninger at 15:27.

Omaha retook the lead on a power play just 35 seconds later.  Olofsson send a rink-wide pass to Pope who hammered home a shot just under the crossbar for his team-leading ninth goal of the year.

But again, UMD would tie the game.  Wolff converted a pass from Joey Anderson with 13 seconds remaining in the period.

The two teams conclude the series on Saturday at 7:07 p.m.

NOTES:  

• Jordan's hat trick was the first for a Maverick in the two and a half year history of Baxter Arena.
• The hat trick also was the first for Omaha since Austin Ortega had three at Wisconsin on Dec. 3, 2016.
• The Mavericks went 3-for-7 on the power play, tying the second-best output of the season (three vs. Arizona State on Oct. 21). The season high is four at Colorado College on Nov. 10.
• The seven goals scored by the Mavericks were a season high.
• Omaha snapped a two-game losing streak with the win and a four-game winless streak against UMD.

Three stars:  1. Zach Jordan (UNO); 2. David Pope (UNO); 3. Nick Wolff (UMD)