After losing 5-3 in their regular season opener Friday, the Minnesota State Mavericks came back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Nebraska-Omaha, 4-2.
Kirk Thompson was in net Saturday night for UNO, as senior Ryan Massa was a scratch following his winning effort Friday. It was a slow start for both teams, as the first shot on goal came 4:00 into the game came from UNO.
“I’ve had some boring days watching paint dry, but I thought we were just kind of feeling each other out,” Minnesota State coach Mike Hastings said.
It didn’t take long for UNO to get comfortable. At 5:10, Jono Davis drew in two defenseman and found Jake Randolph alone near the net to blast it home for a score.
Minnesota State continued to struggle early with power play execution. UNO’s Dominic Zombo crashed into the goaltender, Cole Huggins, when driving to the net, which drew a penalty, but Minnesota State couldn’t capitalize.
Though both squads only had two shots on goal apiece, it didn’t matter, as Zombo flew behind the Minnesota State goal and lost the puck, where Austin Ortega corralled it and flung it to Jake Guentzel, who was square in front and scorched a shot five-hole on Huggins for UNO’s second goal.
Huggins, who had a 1.88 goals-against average game last season, was pulled and replaced by junior Stephon Williams.
Things soon changed for Minnesota State. UNO played the rest of the game without defenseman Brian Cooper, who blocked a puck late in the first period and never returned. His status going forward is unknown.
UNO continued to look quicker and sharper, but Minnesota State broke its drought open with a wraparound score from Bryce Gervais to make it 2-1.
Minnesota State went on to score three unanswered goals in the second period.
Penalties called on UNO’s Joel Messner at 10:19 for interference and Brian Rideout at 11:11 for holding led to five-on-three power play for Minnesota State, which quickly capitalized when it worked it around until setting up Zach Palmquist, who sent a shot stick high on Thompson for the equalizing power-play goal.
Minnesota State got its next two goals in scrappy fashion. At 16:27, Brad McClure netted a shot after the puck bounced oddly to his stick and he beat Thompson clean on his glove side.
Minutes later at 18:52, Chase Grant scored on another shot which rebounded after being blocked by Thompson, allowing Minnesota State to go up 4-2 at the end of the second.
“They didn’t really get a bounce or a break last night; we got a few and we got a few in the first couple of minutes, both of the goals,” UNO coach Dean Blais said. “Sooner or later when there are loose pucks around, it’s going to catch up to you.”
As the horn sounded to end the second period, a scuffle broke out that led to five penalties, including five-minute major facemasking penalties on UNO’s Brian O’Rourke and Minnesota State’s C.J. Franklin.
Thompson was quickly under fire as Minnesota State started the third period with eight shots on goal to UNO’s one, but the sophomore held his own and kept UNO from falling behind three.
UNO had a good chance at 13:59 following a Teddy Blueger tripping call and pulled Thompson to get a six-on-four advantage, but didn’t come close to scoring, getting only one of its three shots on goal of the period.
“They did a great job killing and didn’t give us any time at all,” Blais said. “Mike Hastings obviously knows [what] we’re going to do. Our premier line got bounced around a lot. He played physical against them.”
Hastings thought his team to be a step behind UNO Friday night, but Saturday it was his squad that not only had the speed, but a physical edge.
“We should have had a lot left in the tank [from] last night because there weren’t a lot of ice bags passed out last night, and that’s because I thought they played with pace,” Hastings said. “From the blue line to the back wall, we did a better job of possessing the puck and not throwing it out to the slot and breaking it out.”
Where it was Hastings who said UNO had the hunger on Friday, Blais said Minnesota State were the ones with the bigger appetite on Saturday.
“You’ve got to play 60 minutes, not 40,” Blais said. “But they deserve the game. They had more jump, finished more checks, and appeared to be a little hungrier.”
