OMAHA, Neb. — After overcoming an early deficit and winning in overtime Tuesday night, Dean Blais said Nebraska-Omaha looked like a come-from-behind team.
Wednesday, that style finally came back to bite the Mavericks.
Despite a two-goal Omaha rally in the third period, New Hampshire beat the Mavericks 6-2 for the series split.
Like Tuesday, UNH didn’t wait long to score.
The Wildcats got on the board first at 3:56 when Andrew Poturalski slid a shot five-hole on Kirk Thompson.
The sophomore got the start in net again as senior Ryan Massa remained sidelined with the flu.
New Hampshire would score again at 11:58, this time on the power play. Brett Pesce fired a wrister on an easy look near the net to make it 2-0.
After a strong start, UNH carried their momentum into the second period.
Grayson Downing was left all alone near the net and the forward made Thompson go left before juking behind him for the easy score at 7:13 in the second.
Omaha had a great chance when Tanner Lane ripped a shot that banged off the cross bar and nearly into the top of the net, but UNH took the puck on the subsequent possession and scored at 12:01 at the hands of Tyler Kelleher.
Officials reviewed Lane’s shot, but Omaha was not granted the goal and the Mavericks trailed 4-0 entering the third period.
“The game was lost in the second period when it goes 4-0,” Blais said. “We didn’t give up, but still can’t go 4-0. They deserved the win.”
Like they had done the last two games, Omaha rallied in the third period.
David Pope guided a backhander in at 7:23 and Luc Snuggerud scored just past the blue line at 9:29 to trim the deficit quickly to 4-2 with half a period still left to play.
But unlike last night, UNH held strong, and then some.
After an icing call, the Wildcats won the faceoff in their zone and Matias Cleland scored on an empty Omaha net from the length of the ice to make it 5-2 at 16:36.
To add insult to injury, Matt Willows beat Thompson on a breakaway at 19:01 in the third to seal the game.
“Our guys came out and we competed hard and got another quick goal and I thought it was important that we got that second goal,” UNH coach Dick Umile said. “We were playing on our heels, but we battled back and [Daniel] Tirone, it was his first collegiate game, and he hung in there and did a good job. I was overall pleased with the way our team played over the weekend.”
Tirone finished with 24 saves and Thompson stopped 18 shots.
Omaha came into its series last week against Alabama-Huntsville No. 2 in the PairWise rankings. After going 2-1-1 in against the Chargers and New Hampshire, the Mavericks now sit at No. 10.
“We didn’t have the emotion tonight that we’ve had in the past,” Blais said. “It’s called being ripe [and] we were ripe to get beat. The whole team wasn’t mentally prepared. Was it my fault? Absolutely not. It’s their responsibility to get mentally prepared. In hockey, you don’t give a Vince Lombardi speech and [snap] lights on. It’s up to them to come to the rink prepared and they know it.”
Omaha’s less than impressive stretch comes right before a 14 straight NCHC games – eight at home and six on the road. Blais and the rest of the Mavericks feel that a small wake-up call to end 2014 will help them going into 2015.
“We didn’t want it bad enough,” Blais said. “From player one to player 20 that put their gear on tonight, there wasn’t the hunger the desire and the intensity to win. Sometimes it’s better to lose big than to lose a tough game. We lost big and we deserved to lose big.”
“I guess we have been playing a little loose and I guess that was good to get beat like that right before NCHC play so we can regroup and get ready for Denver in a week and a half,” added Snuggerud.
For New Hampshire, the win in Omaha gives the Wildcats their third road win of the year to improve to 6-11-1 on the season. Despite the schedule showing a split, Umile was happy the way the team played both nights.
“Well, we just want to try and get better and I thought coming back from our break, we’ve gotten better,” Umile said. “I thought we played well last night I think we played even a little bit better tonight, so I’m pleased right now but we have a long way to go.”
