Omaha was able to string together multiple goals as they scored in spurts through out the night. Although Western Michigan opened the scoring with Dawson DiPietro’s tally at 4:29 of the first, Omaha scored four consecutive goals to respond. David Pope triggered the scoring frenzy at 7:50 and Fredrik Olofsson followed it at 16:33, still in the first.
Omaha kept their foot on the accelerator, and an inspired Pope scored his second goal only several seconds before Jalen Schulz made it 4-1 at 6:47 of the second period. WMU tried to chip away at Omaha’s lead. A goal could turn the tide especially with so much time left as Cam Orchard makes it 4-2 at 8:41.
On the power play, WMU had the chance to tie the game but careless mistakes enabled a short-handed goal from Omaha’s Tyler Vesel at 15:04 of the third period. Vesel followed up his goal after that for his second goal of the night to make it 6-2. Vesel would find his third point, off an assist to Steven Spinner at 15:59. Western Michigan was 2-8 on the power play, which could have tilted things the other way. Ben Blacker for WMU was pulled and did not continue the third period. Trevor Gorsuch came in to relieve him but ended up conceding three goals himself. UNO’s Evan Weninger made 34 saves in the 60-minute effort.
