OMAHA, NE — After Saturday night’s first intermission, No. 20 Omaha was poised to tell a different story than the one written in their series opener with No. 2 St. Cloud State. The night after conceding the most points in a contest all season, with three goals given up in the first period alone and seven by the end of the third, Omaha kept a clean sheet against their NCHC opponents for the first 20 minutes. St. Cloud State, however, broke them down comprehensively over the next 40, racking up a 5-0 scoreline to put an exclamation point on the end of an important road series sweep.
Omaha looked threatening offensively for much of the first period, nearly capitalizing several times on their first power play after a roughing call about six minutes into the game. Defensively, the hosts were also impressive, holding St. Cloud to eight shots on goal, with the Mavericks’ junior goalkeeper Evan Weninger saving all eight.
St. Cloud appeared to struggle in the first period, unable to find the scoring rhythm that they enjoyed the night before and throughout most of the season so far. They also gave Omaha two power-plays, although the Mavericks didn’t make the most of them. When the buzzer sounded for the first intermission, Omaha looked to have more than a fighting chance of splitting the series.
With the exception of losing out on faceoffs 15-7, Omaha had the upper hand going into the second. After killing an early power play with solid defensive play, the Mavericks seemed to show more of the same discipline that had kept the game scoreless.
St. Cloud’s Jake Wahlin struck first, rifling a shot into the net from the right side with 15:40 to go in the period. After an elbow call against Omaha set up an St. Cloud power play, the Huskies converted again, Blake Winiecki nudging it over the line with 13:52 on the clock.
At 2-0, deeper in the second period, the contest still looked fairly even. Omaha came up with threatening offensive spells after conceding the power-play goal. An icing call and a few defensive mistakes from St. Cloud led to more opportunities, but Omaha continued to fall short. The Mavericks had 17 shots on target in the second half, the most they had all game, converting none of them.
The third period began with a high stick penalty against the Mavericks 49 seconds in, but Omaha killed the power play with no problem. Play remained fairly balanced for the opening minutes of the period.
Things began to unravel for the hosts as a St. Cloud breakaway led to a quick shovel shot from Jon Lizotte into the corner of the goal, giving the Huskies a 3:0 lead with 15:45 to go in the last third. A few minutes later, an Omaha defensive error led to St. Cloud scoring again, Nick Poehling putting away an unassisted score past the unprepared goalie Weninger.
It was 4-0 eight minutes into the third period, and as St. Cloud found their scoring groove, Omaha seemed to be losing focus, looking more and more shaky defensively.
Omaha had a chance to turn things around at the eleventh minute. A roughing call against St. Cloud, followed by an unsportsmanlike conduct call against the Huskies’ bench before the power play expired, left only 3 men on ice for St. Cloud with 7:24 to play. Omaha threatened, pounding shot after shot from distance, but couldn’t capitalize, and St. Cloud killed the power play along with the Mavericks’ last hope of staging a comeback.
A cross check call at the other end gave St. Cloud a power play with 4:42 to go, and they did again what Omaha couldn’t do with theirs, cashing in with a shot floated in from the left by Robby Jackson. Jackson’s goal was the last, and the game ended 5-0, giving St. Cloud State the road series sweep against a ranked opponent, another notch in an already accomplished run for the Huskies so far.
NCHC Roundup
No. 5 Cornell 4, Miami 0
After losing Friday’s match in an upset to unranked Miami 2-1, No. 5 Cornell retaliated in style by shutting out their opponents 4-0 in Saturday’s rejoinder. Alex Rauter scored the fourth with :51 to go to complete a three-point game after assisting teammates Anthony Angello and Kyle Betts in the first period. Angello assisted a score for Trevor Yates. Cornell splits the road series heading into an easier stretch against Ivy League opponents.
No. 1 Denver 2, No. 16 Minnesota Duluth 1
The No. 1 team in the nation kept rolling in a close contest in Duluth. After winning the previous game 1-0, the Pioneers squeaked by again on slim margins. After Jarid Lukosevicius broke through at the end of the second period, Blake Young equalized in the third for Duluth. It took a late shot from Jake Durflinger to save the series for the Pioneers, who leave Minnesota with a precious result against a ranked team.
No. 6 North Dakota 4, No. 10 Western Michigan 1
No. 6 North Dakota swept a top-10 series at home with their win against No. 10 Western Michigan. After Friday’s nailbiter, Western Michigan opened the scoring on Saturday with a strike from Austin Rueschhoff in the second period. North Dakota’s Nick Jones equalized, and Cole Smith scored the go-ahead goal 7 seconds into the third period. The Fighting Hawks never looked back, with Hayden Shaw and Grant Mismash tacking on additional goals.
