On the eve of his 19th birthday, Ty Mueller started a celebration of his own.

It was impromptu in nature, and his guests included a crowd of 5,215 at Baxter Arena.

Mueller scored twice in the first 14 minutes as Omaha raced to a 3-0 lead on No. 3 Denver Saturday in front of an energized fanbase. The quick start sent the Mavericks (20-13) to a 5-1 win over the Pioneers (22-8-1) in an NCHC series opener.

The victory was Omaha's third in a row over a Top 10 opponent. And it secured the seventh 20-win season in program history for the Mavericks, and their first under head coach and alum Mike Gabinet.

It also gave Omaha, who was coming in off a home sweep of then-No. 8 St. Cloud State, a victory over everyone on its schedule and each of the other teams in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

"It was important for us to establish that we are a good team and we can play with the big dogs in our conference," freshman Cameron Berg said. "We just came out and played hard. … Denver is, obviously, really skilled and really good. We just have to play our game. We did, and we won."

Berg finished with three assists, including the primary one on Mueller's goal that opened the scoring 4:54 in. Mueller later added a power-play tally, after Brandon Scanlin had scored one, to make it 3-0.

"The coaches have talked to me recently about being more assertive and trying to get to the front of the net," Mueller said. "I think I did a good job of that, and it resulted in a couple of goals."

Kirby Proctor scored late in the second period to extend Omaha's lead to 4-0. The Mavericks, who were playing shorthanded due to illness, kept the nation's top offensive team off the board until the third.

Ryan Barrow found the net 98 seconds into the final period for the Pioneers, but that was the only time they got the puck past Isaiah Saville. The Omaha goaltender made 31 saves in his 15th win of the season.

Jack Randl tallied two assists for the Mavericks, who denied Denver on five power-play chances.

"Great win by the group," Gabinet said. "Nice just to see us [play well] from the start to the finish. Everybody was good up and down the lineup. I couldn't be happier for the guys. They've been playing well – sticking with it and super-prepared. Great execution tonight to come away with a big win."