OMAHA, Neb. — It has been a long time since Nebraska Omaha pulled that off.
The Mavericks defeated St. Cloud State 5-1 in an NCHC game on Saturday at Baxter Arena. The win finishes off a series sweep for UNO over SCSU, something that the Mavericks have not done since Dec. 12-13, 2014, in Omaha.
UNO got goals in a span of 1:51 in the first period to chase SCSU starting goalie David Hrenak. Taylor Ward snapped a seven-game streak without a goal when he scored his career-best tying 16th of the season at 5:15 of the first period.
Kirby Proctor followed that up with a goal at 7:06 of the first period to give the Mavericks a 2-0 lead that they would not relinquish. St. Cloud State replaced Hrenak with Jaxon Castor after the goal. Hrenak stopped two out of the four shots he faced.
After a scoreless second period, the Huskies got back into the game when senior forward Sam Hentges scored at 1:30 of the third period to cut the deficit to 2-1. Hentges and senior defenseman Nick Perbix both played Saturday in their first games back with the Huskies since playing for Team USA in the Olympics.
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But UNO's Tyler Weiss answered with a goal at 2:41 of the third period to give the Mavericks a 3-1 lead.
Proctor and Ty Mueller both had a goal and an assist to lead UNO's offense.
Junior goalie Isaiah Saville made 28 saves to pick up the win after being the backup in Friday's win for the Mavericks. Saville had started 14 straight games and Friday's game was the first he had not started since Dec. 4 against Colorado College.
With the win, UNO (9-11-0 NCHC, 19-13-0 overall) moves into a tie with SCSU (7-9-3, 15-11-3) for fifth place in the NCHC. Both teams have 25 points and are four points behind fourth-place Minnesota Duluth (8-9-3, 15-14-3). North Dakota beat UMD 3-2 on Saturday to complete a series sweep.
St. Cloud State plays host to Minnesota Duluth at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
UNO 5, SCSU 1
SCSU 0-0-1—1
UNO 2-0-3—5
First period scoring — 1. UNO, Taylor Ward 16 (Chayse Primeau, Brannon McManus) 5:15; 2. UNO, Kirby Proctor 4 (Matt Miller, Jonny Tychonick) 7:06. Penalties — SCSU, Easton Brodzinski (cross-checking) 6:46; UNO, Jack Randl (interference) 6:50.
Second period scoring — None. Penalties — UNO, Nolan Sullivan (faceoff violation) :38; UNO, Davis Pennington (hooking) 13:47.
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Third period scoring — 3. SCSU, Sam Hentges 7 (Ondrej Trejbal, Easton Brodzinski) 1:30; 4. UNO, Tyler Weiss 8 (Ty Mueller, Cameron Berg) 2:42; 5. UNO, Kevin Conley 8 (Jimmy Glynn, Nate Knoepke) 18:32 (en); 6. UNO, Mueller 6 (Cameron Berg, Proctor) 19:04. Penalties — SCSU, Seamus Donohue (holding) 8:41.
Goalie saves — SCSU, David Hrenak 2-x-x—2 (2 GA), Jaxon Castor (in at 7:06 of 1st) 8-9-6—23 (2 GA). UNO, Isaiah Saville 12-8-8—28 (1 GA).
Penalties-minutes — SCSU 2-4; UNO 3-6.
Power-play goals, opportunities — SCSU 0-3; UNO 0-2.
Faceoffs — UNO 32-28.
Attendance — 5,454.
