Friday night, the Western Michigan Broncos took advantage of penalties to knock off the No. 4 Omaha Mavericks. Saturday, it was Western Michigan that was on the wrong end of special teams.
Behind a first-period score from David Pope and two goals on a five-minute major in the second period, Omaha defeated Western Michigan 3-1.
With just 27 seconds remaining and an extra attacker with an empty net, Western Michigan’s Sheldon Dries spoiled goaltender Ryan Massa’s shutout. The goal gave Austin Ortega his 10th game-winning goal of the year, as his score on the power play in the second period stood as the goal that gave Omaha the win.
Ortega is now tied with seven others in NCAA history to have 10 game-winners in a season. The last player to do it was New Hampshire’s Colin Hemingway in 2002.
“It’s a good feeling,” Ortega said. “Obviously I don’t look too much into that. I mean, tonight it was definitely lucky; it wasn’t an overtime winner or anything.”
Dean Blais said tonight’s game meant everything to Omaha after last night’s letdown.
“It’s everything; it’s three points in the standings, but that’s how it’s going to be the next six games,” Blais said. “Everyone’s the same.”
The Mavericks got things started on a four-on-four opportunity. Austin Ortega dumped the puck behind to David Pope on the run, who slapped a one-timer upstairs for the go-ahead score at 19:09 in the period.
It was the opposite story for the Broncos, who had jumped out ahead first on Friday.
“We thought we came out real hard, had some great chances, putting a lot of pressure on,” said Broncos coach Andy Murray. “We turned the puck over with about a minute to go in the first period and they came down — they have really great players — and they finished it off.”
The turning point in the game came at the second period at 9:11. Mike McKee was called for a game misconduct on a check from behind on Avery Peterson, and Omaha took advantage.
At 10:06, Ortega powered a shot from the left wing that nicked goalie Frank Slubowski and went in.
A minute later, Justin Parizek ripped a rocket from the left circle to puts Omaha up 3-0.
The second period was all Omaha, which held the Broncos to only two shots on goal in the period. Blais was happy to see production come from the power play.
“I thought the one good thing that we did on the power play was shoot the puck when it was there,” Blais said. “Too many times this year, we’ve worked it around, worked it around, passed to not exactly on the stick, and the guys got to catch it and stick-handle, and get it to where the next pass is and by then opportunity lost.”
Omaha held strong in the third period and came 26 seconds away from a shutout that gave Ortega another game-winner. Although he lost the shootout, Massa earned his single season career best 12th win with a 28-save effort. The senior was happy with the way his team responded after Friday.
“[We] seniors took control of that locker room last night after the game and addressed some issues that shouldn’t be an issue at this time of year if you want to be a championship team,” Massa said. “We made sure that we showed up tonight a completely different team. You could tell just by the first five minutes I was in the locker room tonight guys were dialed in.”
Western Michigan had inched closer in the NCHC standings Friday, but was not able to make the most of the weekend.
“If you lose the first one and win the second one, you feel fairly good about the split, but when you lose the second game you never feel good about it after you win the first one,” Murray said. “Certainly with the intent we had in the game and the intensity we had to start the game, we’re not very happy.”
The win meant more than points for the Mavericks, who were out of sorts following the loss last night and who are fighting week-to-week to stay ahead in the PairWise.
“This was staying pace with the NCAA bids,” Blais said. “Every weekend if we split we should get an NCAA bid the way the PairWise works, but we need more than that if we’re going to win the title.”
Omaha is in a three-way tie for first place in the NCHC standings with North Dakota and Miami. UNO also climbed back to fifth in the PairWise rankings.
