ANCHORAGE, Alaska – When forward
Joey Abate scores, he makes it count. The Omaha freshman scored his third game-winner of the season, pushing the Omaha hockey team past Alaska Anchorage, 4-3, in the series opener on Thursday.
Abate scooped up the rebound of a shot by
Kirby Proctor and fired home his third career goal with 3:56 to go in the third. The goal came just 53 seconds after the Seawolves had retied the game on a power play goal by Rylee St. Onge.
The win moved the Mavericks to 4-1-0 on the season while the Seawolves dipped to 1-4-0.
The Seawolves jumped on the Mavericks early, grabbing the lead at 1:55 when Trey deGraaf tipped a shot by Brayden Camrud past
Isaiah Saville.
The Mavericks wasted little time tying the game in the second.
Teemu Pulkkinen fed
Taylor Ward in the slot for a quick one-timer. The power play goal at 1:07 was Ward's second of the season.
UNO earned its first lead of the night at 4:54 when
Tristan Keck bunted a high-bouncing puck past UAA goalie Kristian Stead.
Travis Kothenbeutel and
Tyler Weiss earned assists.
But the Seawolves would tie the game when Marcus Mitchell tipped a point shot past Saville at 12:46.
The Mavericks retook the lead midway through the third when
Brandon Scanlin kept the puck in at the blue line and fired a shot through traffic for his first collegiate goal.
The Mavericks finished with a 30-22 edge in shots on goal. Saville made 19 saves in the win while UAA's Stead stopped 26.
The two teams finish the series on Friday at 10:07 p.m. CT.
GAME NOTES:
- Abate leads the NCHC and is tied for the NCAA lead in game-winning goals.
- Scanlin becomes the third Maverick freshman to score his first collegiate goal, following Josh Boyer and Abate.
- Kirby Proctor earned his first collegiate point with an assist on Abate's goal.
- Dean Stewart had his four-game point streak snapped. He had registered an assist in each of the first four games.
- The Mavericks were 2-for-7 on the power play while UAA went 1-for-4.
- Omaha had a 41-33 advantage in the face-off circle.
- The Mavericks improved to 9-2-1 against UAA including a mark of 4-1-1 in Anchorage.