OMAHA, Neb. - Senior
Simon Latkoczy (Trencin, Slovakia) allowed a goal seconds after the opening face-off Friday night.
But the Omaha senior goaltender was nearly flawless the rest of the night. He finished with 47 saves in (RV) Omaha Hockey's 6-2 victory over No. 20 Minnesota State during the season's opener on Kemp Ice at Baxter Arena in the Spirit of the Maverick series.
Latkoczy's night included 21 saves in the second period when Omaha was outshot 21-6. Omaha made the most of its six shots as it scored twice in that period and added a power-play goal in the opening minutes of the third period to take a 4-1 lead.
"A lot of hockey is how you respond," Omaha head coach
Mike Gabinet said. "After that (early goal), Simon played a tremendous game."
Junior defenseman
Aidan de La Gorgendiere (Langley, British Columbia, Canada), freshman forward
Marcus Nguyen (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) sophomore and
Sean Tschigerl (Whitecourt, Alberta, Canada) each had a goal and an assist for Omaha. All three are new this season to Omaha, which has 15 newcomers on its 26-man roster, and five of the six goals were scored by first-year players in the program.
Both teams wasted little time scoring their first goal of the season.
Omaha, which never trailed in winning last weekend's exhibition over Air Force, allowed a goal 20 seconds into the game as Spencer Scholl converted a pass in front of the Omaha net.
But 53 seconds later, Omaha answered. A pass from de La Gorgendiere set up Nguyen to tie it 1-1.
Omaha grabbed the lead four minutes into the second period as sophomore forward
Chase LaPinta (Frisco, Texas) delivered a pass to an open freshamn defenseman
Spencer Sova (Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada), whose one-timer beat goalie Alex Tracy.
Omaha then went up 3-1 with 2:11 left in the second period when Tschigerl poked home a goal after a scramble in front of the Minnesota State net.
Omaha started the third period on a power play and sophomore defenseman
Marc Lajoie (St. Albert, Alberta, Canada) made it 4-1when he put away a rebound.
"I really loved how we dug in and stuck with the process," Gabinet said. "That's a good team, so that's a big win for us."
Minnesota State scored on a power-play with 12:19 left to pull within 4-2, but less than a minute later de La Gorgendiere answered with a goal of his own to keep momentum on Omaha's side. Senior forward
Jacob Slipec (White Rock, British Columbia, Canada) later added an empty-netter.
The Mavericks do battle again tomorrow, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. CT in game two of the series for the Spirit of the Maverick Trophy at Baxter Arena. Saturday's game will stream on NCHC.tv and air live on 1290 KOIL and the Varsity Network.
Click here or call 402-554-MAVS to purchase tickets for Saturday's game.
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