The No. 17 Omaha Mavericks defeated the University of North Dakota 2-1 in tonight's NCHC Quarterfinal bout.

The Mavericks and Fighting Hawks skated to a 0-0 tie after the opening 20 minutes. Omaha outshot North Dakota 17-11 in the 1st period.

At 4:29 of the 2nd period, Jacob Guevin broke the deadlock when he blasted home his fourth goal of the season. Davis Pennington and Jacob Slipec picked up the assists on the opening goal. 2:31 later, Pennington received a pass at the blueline, walked it down into the left circle and fired home his first goal of the season to extend Omaha's lead to 2-0. Pennington and Junior forward Kaden Bohlsen tallied the helpers.

The contest would remain at that score until the 18:46 mark of the 3rd period when UND was finally able to solve Freshman netminder Simon Latkoczy for their first goal of the game. The Mavericks shut down the final 1:14 of regulation to secure their first NCHC playoff victory in Baxter Arena history.

A defining moment of the game came at 16:30 of the 2nd period. Jake Pivonka was called for a hooking minor which put North Dakota on a 5-on-3 power play for 61 seconds. The Mavericks held the nation's top power play unit scoreless in the double man-advantage opportunity. North Dakota went 0-3 on the power play tonight.

Latkoczy, an NCHC Goaltender of the Year finalist, registered his second 40-save performance of the season tonight. He turned away 40 of the 41 shots he faced to improve to 11-4-1 on the campaign.

With the victory tonight, Omaha takes a 1-0 lead in this weekend's best-of-three series. The winner advances to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff in St. Paul, Minnesota next weekend. The Mavericks and Fighting Hawks will do it all again tomorrow night in Game 2 when they drop the puck at 7:07 p.m.