OXFORD, Ohio – (RV) Omaha Hockey (11-10-0, 7-4-0 NCHC) handled Miami (3-16-2, 0-11-0 NCHC) 4-1 to win its third straight game and fifth over its last six games at Goggin Ice Center on Friday night.
Omaha has also won five of its last six games in NCHC play. This was its first NCHC road test since the Dec. 6-7 series at then-No. 9 St. Cloud State.
The Mavericks scored four unanswered goals after the RedHawks scored the first goal to win their ninth straight game against the home team.
Miami started the night with Casper Nassen's tip-in goal, following a shot at the blue line 6:13 into the first period, which gave it a 1-0 lead.
Just under 10 minutes later, the Mavericks' penalty kill managed to get them into a four-on-four, and then the time ticked into a power play opportunity for the Mavericks. With 1:16 remaining on the man advantage, sophomore forward
Charlie Lurie capitalized.
Junior forward,
Tyler Rollwagen skated in the neutral zone and drifted the puck to junior defenseman
Griffin Ludtke just before he entered the Miami zone.
Ludtke then skated along the boards on the teams' bench side of the ice and found Lurie alone in the faceoff circle on the opposite side.
Lurie then caught the pass on his stick, seemingly slowed time down and then let it rip as the puck hit the top left shelf to tie things 1-1.
Only 1:15 after the game-tying goal, freshman forward
Liam Watkins decided to be the hero as he scored the game-winner 16:33 into the first period.
Senior forward
Zach Urdahl took control of the puck behind the Miami cage and connected with freshman defenseman
Joe Gramer, who was trying to create something with the threat of force against the boards from the RedHawks.
However, Gramer found Watkins just inches behind the spot where Lurie took his 1-1 shot from and hit a one-timer while falling over into a near-dramatic somersault to take the lead for good.
Graduate forward
Harrison Israels turned on the jets early in the second period and caught up to Miami defenseman Spencer Cox, who took the puck away from him in the RedHawks' zone. Israels then glided left to right, centering himself for a perfect shot to make it 3-1 at 18:53 in the third period.
Junior defenseman
Dylan Gratton might have had the play of the game when he scored his first goal as a Maverick (sixth career) in his 90th collegiate game when he caught a turnover off Cox's pass attempt and skated to the left but behind Miami's net.
Gratton shot from a left angle behind the cage and made Miami's goaltender, Bruno Bruveris, do the rest of the work. The puck caught Bruveris's backside and fell into the net to make it 4-1 at the 7:47 mark of the final frame.
Omaha has now gone three straight games without allowing a power play goal, as it held the RedHawks scoreless on two opportunities with the man advantage.
Israels (2G-2A), Urdahl (1G-2A) and freshman forward
Myles Hilman (1G-3A) are all on active three-game point streaks following tonight's game.
Junior goaltender
Simon Latkoczy made 25 saves and faced 26 shots on net.
The Mavericks conclude the season series with the RedHawks and look for their 10th straight win against them tomorrow night at Goggin Ice Center at 7:05 p.m. ET/6:05 p.m. CT.
Season and single-game for Omaha hockey home games at Baxter Arena are on-sale now at OMavs.com/Tix.
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