In the opening regular season series for both the University of Nebraska-Omaha and Minnesota State University, UNO defeated Minnesota State, 5-3, Friday night.
Similar to its 4-0 exhibition loss just four days earlier, UNO allowed a goal in the opening minute of play. Matt Leitner and Bryce Gervais both put shots on goal before Zach Palmquist buried Minnesota State’s third shot of the night on a rebound, going glove high on Ryan Massa for a 1-0 lead at the 44-second mark in the game.
Massa then stood strong on an early Minnesota State power play.
“Ryan was really good at the start of the game; I thought he held us in there,” UNO coach Dean Blais said. “Shots were 7-1 at one point; if they get a goal in there, your confidence goes.”
The game soon turned in UNO’s favor. Tanner Lane skated into the Minnesota State zone along the right side boards and flung a pass backwards that found its way to freshman Luc Snuggerud square in front, who sniped a shot top left on Minnesota State goalie Cole Huggins for the equalizer.
Minnesota State’s aggressive play began to result in penalties, as Chase Grant and Brett Stern get called for consecutive interference calls. UNO capitalized on the second one when Austin Ortega ripped a shot that flew off the stick of Huggins and into the lap of Jake Guentzel, who powered in a goal directly from the right side parallel to the net.
On a power play early in the second, Snuggerud drifted past the blue line and sent a pass cross-ice to Ortega, who deflected it in for a goal at 4:01.
“Blais tells you always drive the net hard [and] I was hoping it was going to hit me in the tape, but it ended up hitting me in the foot,” Ortega said. “Not the prettiest goal, but I’ll take it.”
“I thought we played slow tonight,” Minnesota State coach Mike Hastings said. “Our support of the puck was poor at times.”
Minnesota State scored a power-play goal later in the second from Casey Nelson. The defenseman sent a shot in that was saved by Massa, but the rebound was fumbled into the net by UNO’s Brian O’Rourke at 15:13.
Minnesota State killed an early penalty in the third and got the equalizing score. Dylan Margonari sent a cross-ice pass to Brad McClure, who was driving the net and scooped a shot into the right corner at 5:31.
It didn’t take long for UNO to counter. Bluegger got called for delay of game for use of hands on the faceoff, and UNO worked around a pass right to left from Guentzel to Brian Cooper to Ortega, who one-timed a shot glove-high on Huggins for the game-winning goal 6:33 in the 3rd period.
Minnesota State continued to press, but Massa and the UNO defense kept Minnesota State from tying the game.
Minnesota State went with an empty net with a minute to play, but UNO gained possession in its zone soon after, which led to a Dominic Zombo score from center ice to solidify the UNO win at 5-3.
“It wasn’t a well-played, executed game, but it was a character win for us,” Blais said. “Especially when they tied it up 3-3 and we scored right after that. A lot of times they get the momentum, but we got the game-winning goal.”
UNO got a lot out of its freshman, the biggest play coming from Snuggerud, who finished with a goal and an assist in his first collegiate start.
“[Snuggerud] played great,” UNO goalie Ryan Massa said. “With the departures of some pretty top defenseman from last year, these young guys have big shoes to fill. To see a guy like that step up, first night, first home game of his college career, and play that way it was great to see. It got me going.”
The two Mavericks squads will face each other again tomorrow night at 7:07 p.m. as No. 13 Minnesota State tries to avoid getting swept to start the season.
