Nebraska-Omaha defeated Connecticut, 4-1, on Saturday night in the opening round of the Maverick Stampede Tournament. This advances the Mavericks to the title game against Merrimack. The Mavericks won a game in the tournament that they host for the first time since 2001, they had lost two games in each tournament the last two years.
Connecticut scored first in the contest as Tim Olsen recorded a goal at 17:53 of the first period on a goal assisted by Cole Koidahl. Olsen got a great pass from Koidahl and went in alone on Chris Holt. He deked him and put it past the goaltender.
Nebraska-Omaha scored a pair of goals in both the second and third periods for the win. Rob Chapell scored for UNO at 8:45 of the second period on a five-on-three power play, while Mike Lefley netted the game-winner with 42 seconds left in the second period.
Mike Eickman and Dan Hacker each scored goals for Nebraska-Omaha in the third period to seal the win. Nebraska outshot UConn by a 28-17 count while Scott Tomes made 24 saves for UConn and Chris Holt had 16 for UNO.
The Mavericks will look to win their own tournament for the first time in the five-year existence of the Maverick Stampede.
