The goal of the evening was getting off to a good start and Michigan did just that, defeating Nebraska-Omaha 4-1 on Saturday. The Maize and Blue gained its 20th victory of the season and earned its first-ever win at the Omaha Civic Auditorium, avenging the previous night’s 4-1 loss.
Nine seconds into the contest, UNO was called for obstruction-tripping and Michigan took advantage when Mike Cammalleri put in a rebound in front of the net at 0:56.
Michigan (20-7-4, 13-5-4 CCHA) didn’t stop at one power-play goal, and converted its second of three attempts with Mark Kosick’s goal at 18:12 by way of two crisp passes from Mark Mink and John Shouneyia.
The second period was a stalemate between the teams, which had minimal scoring chances but one quality opportunity a side. Bill Trainor was foiled on a breakaway attempt by Maverick goaltender Dan Ellis, and Josh Blackburn did his part in net, stopping a three-shot onslaught at the net by UNO.
It looked like Michigan would head into the locker room with a comfortable 2-0 lead, but Geoff Koch was called for charging and Aaron Smith put in the Mavericks’ lone goal with 1:49 left in the period.
The crowd rose to its feet at the beginning of the third period, and a sign of hope was in the air for the Mavericks until Mike Komisarek scored at 2:36 on a wrap-around goal that banked off the UNO goaltender. The goal took the life out the Mavericks and Trainor finished them off with an empty-netter with 36 seconds left.
