The No. 19 Omaha Mavericks were bested 6-1 tonight by the No. 14 Western Michigan Broncos at Lawson Ice Arena.

WMU jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 5:22 of the 1st period. Omaha would challenge the goal for offsides but came up unsuccessful on the review. The Broncos added the eventual game winning goal four minutes later to take a 2-0 lead into the 2nd frame.

Later in the middle 20, Western tipped a shot from the point out front to extend their lead to 3-0 over Omaha. The Mavericks had some grade-A opportunities in the 2nd period with a pair of breakaway attempts but were unable to beat Cameron Rowe who stopped 23 of the 24 Omaha shots tonight.

Trailing after 40, the Mavericks began their comeback attempt early when Tanner Ludtke buried his ninth goal of the season just 37 seconds into the 3rd period. The rookie forward corralled a loose puck at the side of the cage and threw a puck on net to pull Omaha within two of WMU. Ty Mueller and Jack Randl had the helpers on the lamp lighter.

Western responded at 4:09 of the period to regain a three-goal lead.  With 3:05 left in regulation, the Mavericks crashed the net and Jesse Lansdell pushed home a puck in the crease to bring Omaha back within two. After an official review, the puck was deemed to completely cross the goal line. However, Western would turn around and challenge for goaltender interference and win that review, to keep the contest at 4-1.

Following the disallowed goal, WMU added an empty net goal and a power play tally with 19 seconds left in the game.

The Mavericks and Broncos will battle it out one final time in the regular season in tomorrow night's series finale. Puck drop slated for 5:07 CT.

NOTES
The Mavericks are 3-1-1 this season in response after losing a Friday night tilt
Omaha is 7-4-2 in game 2 of regular season series this year