• Box Score: Minnesota 3, UNO 2
• Photo Showcase: UNO hockey, Feb. 25
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It took a national championship contender to finally do what no team had done before this season to UNO.
Minnesota, ranked Nos. 5 and 6 in the country and steaming toward a possible MacNaughton Cup as the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's regular-season champion, completed a sweep of the Mavericks with a 3-2 win Saturday night before 11,772 at CenturyLink Center.
But, as usual, UNO made it extremely interesting.
Matt White stole a pass at the blue line and broke in alone against Minnesota goalie Kent Patterson, and slid the puck between Patterson's legs to make it 3-2 with 9:21 left.
It was White's team-high 17th goal and was UNO's ninth short-handed goal of the season — with four of those by White.
But UNO, which lost Friday's opener 3-2 in overtime, couldn't tie it up and suffered a sweep.
“It's definitely frustrating,” White said. “Close isn't going to cut it this time of year. I thought we played well, though. That's what we got out of this weekend. Even though it's a tough pill to swallow, we'll take it as a positive.”
Each of Minnesota's goals came as UNO had only four skaters on the ice: the first was 4-on-4, and the other two were power-play tallies by talented freshman Kyle Rau.
“The turning point to the game was, when we were playing 5 on 5 and taking it to them, outshooting them 6 to 1, and it went to 4 on 4 and they scored,” UNO coach Dean Blais said. “We've got to play 5 on 5 hockey ... and not get in a situation where we got off our game. ”
With two games left in the regular season, the Gophers maintained their two-point lead on defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth atop the WCHA.
UNO (14-14-6, 11-10-5), tied for fifth with Colorado College (which was swept by Minnesota-Duluth), has a one-point lead over seventh-place Michigan Tech and a two-point advantage on eighth-place St. Cloud State. CC holds the tiebreaker (league wins) over UNO.
The top six teams get home ice for the first round of the WCHA playoffs. The regular season wraps up next weekend, with third-place Denver coming to Omaha.
“Minnesota is a good hockey team,” Blais said. “They're experienced and they're talented. And we're not that far behind. If I was another team in the playoffs ... if we get home ice in the playoffs, I wouldn't want to play us. This team could go a long way.”
UNO's third line put together a nifty tic-tac-toe score at 6:05 of the first period for the game's first goal. Dominic Zombo dug the puck out behind the goal, sent it to Andrew Schmit on the right side of the net and Schmit slid it across the goal mouth to Brent Gwidt, who tapped it into an open net.
It was the sixth goal of the season for Gwidt, an assistant captain. The assists were the first each of the season for Zombo and Schmit, a pair of freshmen playing more prominent roles because of the scratches of third-line wings Johnnie Searfoss (ill) and Zahn Raubenheimer (injury).
But, in a frequent problem for the Mavs, the lead didn't last long. Forty-one seconds later, Mark Alt drove to the net and sent a backhander past goaltender Ryan Massa. The goal came 17 seconds after the teams began skating 4 on 4.
“Scoring that first goal, after they had gone up one, was key for us, because they had come out with better energy than we did,” Minnesota coach Don Lucia said.
Minnesota made it 2-1 on a power play goal at 9:20, as Rau put home a rebound.
The was the end of the night for Massa, who got a quick hook for the second time in five starts.
Rau's second goal, at 9:24 of the second period, came on a centering pass from Erik Haula, and Rau scored before John Faulkner could get into position.
While the league sweep was a first, UNO had been dangerously close to being swept a couple times earlier this season, but managed to take a point out of Denver in a November series and got only one in a home series with Bemidji State three weeks ago.
This weekend, though, felt better to UNO than the one-point weekend with the Beavers.
“I thought we skated pretty well with them, and I'd say the majority of the time we took it to them,” Gwidt said. “Our forwards are fast and made it hard on their defensemen. You've got to give Minnesota credit — that's a good team — but I thought we were right there with them all weekend.”
Contact the writer:
402-444-1027, rob.white@owh.com
twitter.com/RWhiteOWH
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