GRAND FORKS, N.D. – No. 19 North Dakota scored 16 seconds into overtime to beat the Omaha hockey team 5-4 in the final game of the NCHC regular season.

The Mavericks finish their sixth NCHC campaign with a record of 5-17-2-0/1, putting them in a tie with Miami.  UNO wins the tiebreaker with the RedHawks, giving them seventh in the conference and a first-round date at defending champion Minnesota Duluth, the second seed, on Friday – Sunday, March 15-17.

On the game-winner, UND worked the puck out from behind the UNO net to Jordan Kawaguchi who roofed a shot over Evan Weninger for his second goal of the night.

The Mavericks had battled back from a 4-2 deficit to tie the game late in the third.

Nate Knoepke scored his first career goal, firing home a pass from Tyler Weiss at 12:26.  The goal came just 1:43 after UND had opened up its two-goal lead.

The Mavericks then tied it with 1:07 to go when Tristan Keck stole the puck from a UND defender in the slot and zipped a shot over the glove hand of goalie Peter Thome for his seventh goal of the year.

It was the final meeting of four this season between the two teams with each game being decided by one goal.

North Dakota wasted no time taking the lead on Senior Night.  Rhett Gardner set up fellow senior Nick Jones for a goal just 37 seconds into the first period.

The Mavericks answered later in the stanza.  Knoepke's shot from the slot was stopped by Thome, but Chayse Primeau poked it loose in the crease and Weiss jammed it home for his third goal of the year.

Omaha took its first lead of the weekend early in the second period.  Fredrik Olofsson set up Zach Jordan in the low slot and he fired a bullet past Thome for his ninth goal of the year and second in as many games.  The power play tally came at 3:28.

UND countered on its own power play later in the period.  Jordan Kawaguchi found the top corner for his ninth of the year to make it 2-2 after two.

Weninger made a game-high 41 saves while Thome stopped 17 as UND outshot the Mavericks, 46-21.


GAME NOTES:

• Weiss finished the high with a goal and an assist to lead UNO in scoring.
• With an assist apiece in the game, Morelli and Olofsson are tied for fifth in NCHC scoring for all games played with 33 points.
• Olofsson and Jordan are 1-2 in power play points in the NCHC with 18 and 17 respectively.
• The Mavericks fell to 0-2-3 in overtime games this season.
• Omaha will play Minnesota Duluth for the first time in the NCHC playoffs.  The Mavericks lost both games at UMD in the only meetings of the season (Jan. 25-26).

Three stars:  1. Jordan Kawaguchi/UND – Two goals; 2. Cole Smith/UND – One goal, one assist; 3. Nick Jones/UND – One goal, one assist.