UMD Men Sweep Omaha

George Bailey – NSO

A second period flurry of goals launched the University of Minnesota Duluth to a weekend sweep of the University of Nebraska Omaha Saturday night, keeping the Bulldogs atop the National Collegiate Hockey Conference standings with a 3-2 victory.

Freshman goalie Hunter Miska stopped 33 of 35 shots the Mavericks sent his way, setting a collegiate-high for the netminder. UMD moves to 10-2-2 on the season and 7-1-0 in the NCHC, while remaining unbeaten on the road with a 4-0-2 record. The sweep marks the first time of 2016 an opponent has swept Omaha, who falls to 6-5-1, 3-3-0 NCHC.

After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, three different Bulldogs found the back of the net in the second period to give the Bulldogs a lead for the remainder of the night. Sophomore forward Adam Johnson knocked in his seventh goal of the season just 1:17 into the period, scoring the only even strength goal of the night for either team. Shortly after, senior forward Dominic Toninato sprung free off a pass from Alex Iafallo and capitalized on the short-handed chance to give UMD a 2-0 lead. Senior forward Kyle Osterberg would add a goal on the power play just past the halfway mark of the second period to cap off UMD’s scoring.

Omaha, who sported the most efficient power play offense coming into the weekend, added two more goals with the extra man in the third period to cut the Bulldog lead to just one, but Miska would stymie all remaining Maverick shots. UMD tallied 20 shots on net, with Kris Oldham making 17 saves for Omaha.

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