OMAHA, Neb. – Omaha Hockey (6-9-0, 4-4-0 NCHC) fell Friday night 2-3 to Lindenwood (4-12-1) in the opening game of the first-ever series between the two teams on the Kemp Ice at Baxter Arena.
Junior goaltender
Simon Latkoczy made 36 saves, his seventh game of the season with 30 or more.
No power play goals were scored in the game on four opportunities for Omaha, and two for Lindenwood.
The Mavericks could not grab the game's first goal as forward Jaeden Mercier opened the scoring 4:22 into the game.
At 10:06 in the first period, junior forward
Tyler Rollwagen grabbed found a rebound on junior defenseman
Dylan Gratton's shot from the blue line and was able to connect with sophomore forward
Charlie Lurie from the right circle to slide it past goaltender Owen Bartoszkiewicz to make it 1-1.
Gratton now has five points (1G-4A) against the Lions, having played against them twice while at Penn State. The Pottstown, Pa. native's four points in three games are tied for the fourth-most among defensemen against Lindenwood since they began Division I play in 2022-23.
7:09 into the second period, defenseman Joe Prouty took a 2-1 lead for the Lions, and the Mavericks didn't see a tie game the rest of the night.
The rest of the second period was quiet, and then forward John Evans put one past Latkoczy 59 seconds into the third period to make it 3-1 in favor of Lindenwood.
Omaha did not stop battling as junior forward
Garrett Pinoniemi glided down the right side of the ice past the circle and right onto the NCHC logo behind the Lindenwood cage just after he dropped a beautiful pass in front to junior forward
Cam Mitchell, who has five points in his last five games (4G-1A) and two goals in two straight games.
Right after the Mitchell goal, which made it 2-3, defenseman Noah Houle was called for interference, and the Mavericks had one last power play opportunity with just under five minutes remaining in regulation.
Omaha could not find the back of the net for a third time in the evening, despite the man advantage and an extra skater when Latkoczy was pulled after the game's final power play ended.
The Mavericks and Lions will play again tomorrow night on the Kemp Ice at Baxter Arena at 7:07 p.m.
