If you ignore the first period, this was a very competitive game. Unfortunately for Omaha, the first period happened, and it wasn’t close.
North Dakota’s talent took over early, and the Fighting Hawks controlled play for the full 60 minutes. Omaha surrendered three goals in the opening frame, all coming after goaltender Simon Latkoczy left with an apparent lower-body injury. The Mavericks dropped their third game of the season to North Dakota, 4-1, and have been outscored 15-3 across the three matchups.
North Dakota opened the scoring 6:55 into the first on an unassisted goal by Ben Strinden. UND went to the power play less than three minutes later and converted to double its lead to 2-0. The Fighting Hawks added another goal with 6:11 remaining in the period, putting the game out of reach just a third of the way through.
Trevor Wong put Omaha on the board with his first goal as a Maverick 5:59 into the second period. North Dakota restored its three-goal advantage on Strinden’s second of the night with 3:05 remaining in the frame.
The third period brought little action. The only notable moment came with nine seconds left, when multiple fights broke out. Omaha’s Brett Hyland and Joel Plante were given five-minute majors and game misconducts. Sean Tschigerl received a five-minute major for fighting, a game misconduct and will be disqualified for Saturday’s game. UND’s Andrew Strathmann also received a suspension for the rematch.
Omaha falls to 3-6-0 in the NCHC and is seeking its first conference win since Nov. 15 against Minnesota Duluth. Game two of the weekend is set for 6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13.