OMAHA, Neb. — For the second game in a row, No. 12 Omaha went two periods without a score and forced overtime with a third-period goal.
And for the seventh time this season, Austin Ortega delivered the Mavericks a victory with a game winner.
At 3:45 in overtime Tuesday night, Ortega slung a shot under New Hampshire goaltender Adam Clark for a 2-1 Omaha win.
“That’s a goal scorer’s goal right there,” said Jake Randolph, who had an assist on the goal. “Average night for him — game winner.”
Tyler Vesel was skating wide when he dumped the puck back, finding Ortega on the right side. The goal not only tied him for first nationally in game-winners with Miami’s Sean Kuraly, he passed Josh Archibald and Andrew Wong for the single-season school record.
But Ortega diverted his attention to a different record achieved: Omaha (12-4-3) matched the 2008-09 team for the best record through 19 games in school history.
“I know that I got caught out there with Vesel and Randolph. All credit to them — they did all the work,” Ortega said. “But obviously that’s a big accomplishment for our team, getting that best record. I know we’re really surprising people this year.”
It was the Wildcats who struck first and early. Grayson Downing took the puck around the Mavericks net and whipped it back to the middle, where it found its way to Casey Thrush, who buried his own rebound at 3:12 in the first period.
UNH coach Dick Umile said he believed the Wildcats did nearly everything right most of the way.
“I was pleased with the way we played,” he said. “They’re a good hockey team and we went back and forth with them and I thought we weren’t giving up too many odd-man rushes, which is important. And we did a good job on the penalty kill against a good power play.”
After being shut out in the first 40 minutes in consecutive games, UNO didn’t take long to score in the third period.
Vesel sent a shot in from the circle that rebounded to Jake Randolph, who scored glove high for the game-tying goal at 1:02.
Both team had scares in the final minutes of regulation.
“It was a pretty hectic third but we’ve been in tight games all year,” Omaha goaltender Kirk Thompson said. “Guys have battled, guys were blocking shots as usual. It was nothing new for the guys being in a tight game.”
Ryan Massa was slated to start in goal for the Mavs but experienced flu-like symptoms overnight and Thompson got the start and the win with 28 saves.
“I thought Kirk was the difference in the game,” Mavericks coach Dean Blais said. “I went over, first thing I did was shake Kirk Thompson’s hand [saying] he kind of saved the bacon for us, boys.”
UNO led in shots on goal 33-29 but it wasn’t reflective of the scoring chances. UNH had opportunities that just didn’t find the net at times when the Mavs were in a jumble.
“We looked like a mite team where 5- or 6-year-olds follow the puck around,” Blais said. “They didn’t get a lot of puck luck. There were two or three plays that were a little bit off and they had time off, too, so I’m sure Dicky Umile is thinking, ‘You know, our team worked hard’ but you could tell that neither team was real sharp at execution.”
It was the Wildcats’ first game since Dec. 13 and the Mavs’ first since Dec. 21. There was obvious holiday rust shaken off, but UNH felt it came to Omaha in a form necessary to win.
“I thought we played a solid game and I thought things were good even in the third period back and forth,” Umile said. “We’re not going to change anything in our style of play. We are who we are and hopefully we can do a better job converting plays when we have odd-man rushes.”
Wednesday’s series finale is the last nonconference game for the Mavs, who are 6-1-2 against non-NCHC opponents this season.
“We talked about the importance of nonconference,” Blais said. “You’ve got to win those. It’s one thing to play good and play hard. You’ve got to get your fair share of wins and we’ve done that.”
He also acknowledged the slate that sits in front of the Mavericks going forward. And with their final break in action out of the way, he said his team is focused to continue 2014’s success into the new year.
“Tomorrow is the end of our nonconference schedule and we’re looking forward to 14 straight NCHC games,” Blais said. “And the guys are mentally prepared.”
