PALM DESERT, Calif. – Omaha Hockey (8-9-0, 4-4-0 NCHC) beat Holy Cross (8-10-1, 7-4-1 AHA) 4-3 in overtime as a result of the second-ever matchup at Acrisure Arena in the Mavericks' 2025 Cactus Cup opener on Friday night.
The Mavericks will play UMass Lowell in the inaugural Cactus Cup championship game at Acrisure Arena on Saturday at 7 p.m. PT/9 p.m. CT.
Freshman goaltender
Kevin Reidler made 16 saves and picked up his second career victory and first outside of Baxter Arena.
Omaha led the battle in shots on goal 36-19 throughout the evening.
The pair of teams traded punches throughout the game, and Omaha came back from trailing twice, including the final two goals.
In the opening period, junior defenseman
Noah Ellis rushed into the Holy Cross zone in running back fashion, taking a handoff from junior forward
Tyler Rollwagen.
Ellis then glided into the bottom faceoff circle and lateraled a pass to graduate forward
Sam Stange, who rang in the new year by ripping a one-timer to notch his team-leading eighth goal of the year. The Mavericks led 1-0 at 4:30 into the game.
Holy Cross scored two straight goals to close out the first 20 minutes.
The second period saw no scoring from either team.
Omaha scored two goals in the final frame, beginning with freshman forward
Myles Hilman's rebound off
Harrison Israels shot that caught a pad 3:45 into the last 20-minute regulation session. The game was tied 2-2 after Hilman's fourth goal of the season.
Holy Cross's Timothy Heinke took the lead back 14:09 into the third period on the power play in which all three Holy Cross goals were scored.
1:14 after trailing, junior defenseman
Jacob Guevin caught a pass on his stick from Rollwagen. Guevin then skated two or three feet and ripped one, which found the back of the net, skying Holy Cross goaltender Thomas Gale's stick and landing behind his back.
Rollwagen (2A), Stange (1G-1A) and Israels all recorded multi-point games.
In overtime, junior forward
Cam Mitchell played keep away after he took a pass in the Omaha zone behind the blue line and carried it all the way across the playing surface. He threw his body along the team bench side of the ice and looked to be riding a carousel as he went around the three Crusaders, bringing it back in front of the net and shooting, all while being tripped by Gale, who fell on his backside with the puck once again behind him.
Mitchell has five goals over his last seven games, including his first career game-winner tonight.
Season and single-game for Omaha hockey home games at Baxter Arena are on-sale now at OMavs.com/Tix.
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