OMAHA, Neb. – (RV) Omaha Hockey (13-10-0, 9-4-0 NCHC) continued its winning ways, capturing its fifth straight victory 6-3 over No. 17 St. Cloud State (11-12-0, 4-9-0 NCHC) on the Kemp Ice at Baxter Arena on Friday night.
The Mavericks have won five straight NCHC games and eight of their last 10 in-conference matchups.
In the opening period, the Mavericks and Huskies saw no scoring. However, Omaha outshot its opponent 12-7 in the first 20 minutes.
6:50 into the second period, the party got started when junior forward
Cam Mitchell returned to the lineup by slinging the puck across the ice to graduate forward
Sam Stange.
Stange then led a two-on-one and centered himself right before entering the Huskies' zone. The Hobey Baker Award nominee's partner on the odd man rush was fellow Eau Claire, Wis., native senior forward
Zach Urdahl. Stange led Urdahl from the faceoff circle to his left, gliding into a one-timer to bury it and take a 1-0 lead.
Forward Austin Burnevik led the St. Cloud State power play to a game-tying goal 11:55 into the second period.
Junior defenseman
Griffin Ludtke dumped the puck into the Huskies' zone off a faceoff in Omaha's end. Stange then chased the rubber into the corner and connected with Mitchell, who drifted into the center of the faceoff circles and ripped a rocket that turned into a pop fly.
St. Cloud State goaltender Gavin Enright could not retrieve the fly puck as it twisted in the air, landing behind him in a 2-1 Maverick lead with just over two minutes remaining in the second period.
Under seven minutes into the final 20, Omaha found itself down 3-2. However, the Mavericks had a power play opportunity and made the most of it. Graduate forward
Brady Risk ripped a shot on the man advantage opportunity, and it hit graduate forward
Harrison Israels, redirecting onto the stick of Stange.
Stange, with patience, let the play come together and connected the dots, finding Risk again in the same position on the visiting bench side. He ripped a shot and tallied his fifth goal since Jan. 1.
With the game tied 3-3, graduate forward
Jimmy Glynn became the game's hero halfway through the final frame. Senior forward
Brock Bremer gave the puck to sophomore forward
Charlie Lurie, who skated behind Enright's stick side, controlled the puck, and spun his way out of traffic right when Glynn centered into the net.
Lurie then gave Glynn a one-timer that looked hard to miss, putting the Mavericks back in front 4-3.
Junior defenseman
Jacob Guevin played a tic-tac-toe game with Lurie and junior forward
Tyler Rollwagen at 17:02 into the game's final period.
Guevin gave it to Lurie and then finished going around the horn, with Rollwagen tipping one in to make it 5-3, nearly cementing the victory.
Finally, Urdahl took the puck away from a final Huskies' push 18:56 into the third period and was able to pot an empty net goal and solidify Omaha's fifth straight victory.
Simon Latkoczy made 31 saves to earn his 40th collegiate victory.
Omaha will return to the Kemp Ice at Baxter Arena for game two against St. Cloud State at 7:07 p.m. on Saturday. The team is looking for its third consecutive sweep.
Season and single-game for Omaha hockey home games at Baxter Arena are on-sale now at OMavs.com/Tix.
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