DULUTH, Minn. – Junior Evan Weninger made 41 saves to help the No. 14/15 Omaha hockey team beat No. 7 Minnesota Duluth 4-1 in the opener of their series at Amsoil Arena.

The Mavericks kept alive their chance for home ice advantage in the NCHC playoffs, improving to 17-14-2 overall and 10-12-1-0/0 in the NCHC.  They are now tied with Colorado College and North Dakota for fourth place.  The Tigers beat Western Michigan to keep pace while the Fighting Hawks lost in overtime to St. Cloud State.  The Bulldogs saw their four-game win streak come to an end, falling to 18-14-1 overall and 12-11-0-0/0 in the conference, good for third.

The Mavericks had a 2-1 lead after the second period, spotting the Bulldogs an early goal before eventually scoring four unanswered goals.

UMD went ahead at 3:24 of the first period when Peter Krieger's shot was tipped through the pads of Weninger.  The puck lay in the crease for a moment before Joey Anderson tapped it in for his eighth goal of the year.

The Mavericks tied the game 3:19 later when Zach Jordan got a semi-breakaway.  His first shot was stopped by Hunter Shepard, but he jammed home the rebound from behind the net for his 16th goal of the season.

Omaha took its first lead of the night during a five-on-three power play in the second period.  Tyler Vesel fed Duluth native Jake Randolph at the edge of the crease, and Randolph redirected the pass under the crossbar for his sixth goal of the season.

In the third, the Mavericks stretched their lead at 11:15.  Tristan Keck was stopped on a wraparound chance, but he fired home his own rebound for his 10th goal of the season.

UNO got an empty-net goal from Steven Spinner with .9 seconds remaining to close the scoring.

Weninger made 41 saves to earn his career-best 15th win of the season.  Shepard made 24 saves in the loss.

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

GAME NOTES:

• In addition to Keck, Spinner also recorded his 10th goal of the year.  The Mavericks now have five double-digit goal scorers.
• Both Pope and Fredrik Olofsson returned to the lineup after missing games due to injury.  
• The win was just the third all-time for the Mavericks in Duluth (3-7-3).  The also snapped a four-game winless streak at UMD.
• The Mavericks improved to 5-10-0 on the road this season and 13-4-0 in series openers.

Three Stars:  1. Evan Weninger/UNO (41 saves); 2. Jake Randolph/UNO (GWG); 3. Dean Stewart/UNO (Two assists)