Nebraska-Omaha reserve goalie Kirk Thompson may have made the most crucial save all weekend. The sophomore caught Austin Ortega at lunch Saturday when he passed out unexpectedly. Later in the night, Ortega scored his second game-winner of the weekend, and his sixth of the season.
After Jimmy Murray tied the game for the Huskies early in the third period, Ortega scored the game-winning goal to give No. 12 Nebraska-Omaha the win and the series sweep over St. Cloud St.
Ortega took a hot shower directly following a cold bath that led him, and coach Dean Blais, to believe that’s why he passed out during the team’s lunch.
“He took a cold tub for about 10 minutes and then took a hot tub and was going through the food line, busted his plate and Kirk Thompson was right behind him and caught him,” Blais said. “Who knows what would have happened. It was scary.”
The goal came when Zombo fed him with a quick backhanded pass after Guentzel started the run off a turnover at 7:29 in the third period.
Like Friday, Omaha struck first when Jake Randolph flicked a pass out from near the boards that hit a Huskies skate and fell to Cooper, who buried a shot glove high on Charlie Lindgren.
Minutes later after an Avery Peterson holding penalty, Jonny Brodzinski, who was ejected for a hit to head game misconduct penalty last night, ripped a laser that made its way through traffic and in the Mavericks’ net for a power-play goal.
At 11:28, Omaha turned it over in the neutral zone and Judd Peterson took the puck and shoveled a shot upstairs to give the Huskies a 2-1 early advantage.
The Huskies exited the first period with two goals on just six shots, turning the tables on the Mavs, who had been the team making a lot out of little in recent weeks.
While Omaha managed to win behind the play of its own goalie Friday, Saturday it was the Huskies netminder who helped the Mavericks. UNO scored two goals in the second period, both ricocheting off the back of Lindgren and in.
At 3:53 in the second, Randolph got the puck to Tyler Vesel, who rushed the net from the weak side and took a shot that hit the back of Lingren and bounced in.
James Polk then emulated his teammate on the opposite side. Polk took a shot nearly parallel with the Huskies’ net that bounced off Lingren’s skate and in for the go-ahead score.
However, St. Cloud tied it again. Jimmy Murray got the puck after beautiful puck play from him linemates David Morley and Patrick Rusell, each tallying an assist on the score.
Unlike last night, the Mavs outshot the Huskies the entire way and held St. Cloud State to single digit shots the first two periods after the Mavs got no more than eight in all periods last night.
Blais was worried the Mavericks stole the game they should have lost and were on the verge of giving away the game they deserved, but Omaha made sure that didn’t happen.
“What you start thinking about is what happened [with] Duluth, when they won Friday and we won Saturday it should have been reversed and I was starting to think that might happen tonight,” Blais said. “Obviously, guys were good on the bench and got that fourth goal.
“It was definitely a good win, it wasn’t an accident tonight.”
The Huskies outshot the Mavs 13 to 9 in the third period, but still fell short overall at 32-27. Parizek fired a shot from mid-ice in closing seconds to score on the empty net and give UNO the 5-3 win.
Ortega’s game-winner was his sixth on the year, and he’s now one behind Miami’s Sean Kuraly for the most in the NCAA. He’s also already tied for the most game-winning goals in a season at UNO, with 18 games yet to play.
“I guess right place right time today,” Ortega said. “Coach told our team that we needed to get back in it and they scored that goal to tie it up. I think coaches’ direct quote was ‘to get another game-winner.’ So it may have even been the next shift that happened, but our line stole the puck and made a really nice play.”
The Huskies fall to seventh place in the NCHC standings with only seven points this season. SCSU will have time off to get back to 2013-2014 conference-winning form. The Huskies won’t hit the ice again until January 2 against Quinnpiac.
“As weird as it sounds, we do need the break; it comes at a good time for us to recharge,” SCSU coach Bob Motzko said. “We’ve got some kids who are very frustrated; you can see the look in their eyes. That’s the first thing you have to do, they have to shake the frustration. We had a lot of kids who won a lot of hockey games the last two years, and they haven’t been in that situation.
“We know and we do believe we are very much capable of doing a lot better than we’ve been doing and that’s what we have to do.”
Nebraska-Omaha moves up within one point of the lead in the NCHC standings with 20, behind only Miami and Minnesota-Duluth. The Mavericks have already faced some of their toughest opponents on the road, traveling to North Dakota and Miami, and have a heavy home schedule the rest of the way.
“At Duluth, at St. Cloud, and at Colorado College, that’s all we’ve got,” Blais said. “So we’ve got to really take advantage of our PairWise and beat Alabama and New Hampshire. A month ago, I wouldn’t have said that, but who knows what’s going to happen now.”
