OMAHA, Neb. - Omaha hockey opened the 2022-23 regular season Friday night at home with visiting Niagara. The Purple Eagles tallied a pair of goals in the first and second periods to snatch a 4-3 win in the opener.

Omaha falls to 0-1 on the year and will have a chance to even the series against Niagara Saturday night at 7 p.m.

"We got to carry a lot of the play there in certain times of the game, and we did a lot of good things," said head coach Mike Gabinet. "But again, we have some of those glaring mistakes that you're trying to play catch up there and Niagara did a good job keeping us from tying the game."

Niagara's opened goal of the game came at the 13:42 mark from an unassisted Olivier Gauthier. Casey Carreau doubled the lead five minutes later taking on the Maverick goalie one-on-one.

Just 33 seconds into the second period, Jack Randl found his first goal of the night on assists by Kirby Proctor and Victor Mancni. Jay Ahearn regained the two-goal lead for the Purple Eagles at the 10:52 mark, while Ryan Cox blew open the lead to 4-1 just over the 14-minute mark.

The second period ended with a Maverick goal by Tyler Weiss who snuck through the defense to tap in a deflected attempt by Jake Pivonka. Pivonka's shot was saved by Chad Veltri who couldn't make the grab allowing Weiss to tap it in for the second goal of the night.

David Posma went into the box at the 6:59 mark of the third for holding setting up the Maverick power play. Randl needed only seven seconds to find his target and second goal for the night. It cut the lead to one. It also matched Randl's career-high for goals in a game set last season.

Jimmy Glynn, Ty Mueller, Nolan Sullivan (2), Joaquim Lemay, Cameron Berg, and Jonny Tychonick (2), combined for eight more shots on goal for Omaha in the final 13 minutes of regulation, but Omaha's comeback fell short giving Niagara the 4-3 win.

Jake Kucharski got the starting nod in goal for Omaha. He made 14 saves on the night and collects the loss.