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OMAHA, Neb. – Chase LaPinta and Marcus Broberg found themselves scratched and in the stands Friday night, as Omaha earned a 6-3 win over No. 17 St. Cloud State.
However, the freshmen entered the lineup on Saturday and made the most of their opportunity – a constant theme of this year’s Omaha roster.
Broberg and LaPinta teamed up for Omaha’s second goal and the eventual game-winner, as the Mavericks completed another sweep and ran their win streak to six – earning a 3-1 victory over the Huskies.
“Having everybody contributing and everybody playing well – that’s what you need to do to be successful in this league,” head coach Mike Gabinet said after the game. “I thought our lines were really solid up and down our lineup tonight and it was nice to get a good team win.”
Gabinet’s club continues to fire on all cylinders and followed a similar blueprint to Friday, as the Mavs started strong, netted a pair of second-period goals and generated chances while keeping SCSU off the board in the third. Omaha is now 8-1-0 when leading after 40 minutes this season.
Omaha’s transfers also continue to make an impact, as Harrison Israels scored Omaha’s first goal of the night – redirecting a shot from fellow Alaska transfer Brady Risk – and picked up a secondary assist on LaPinta’s. Sam Stange had another solid game too and potted an empty-netter in the final minute, after just missing on a previous attempt.
Stange finished the weekend with four points (1-3-4) and Israels – who Gabinet said is playing ‘unbelievable hockey’ of late – had three (1-2-1).
Eight different Mavs lit the lamp in the series, including three in the finale.
“We’ve got some guys that are battling for roster spots and playing time and I think when you can keep everybody involved that keeps it competitive,” Gabinet said. “When guys get the opportunity to play they want to prove they belong in the lineup and they play hard, and they did just that.”
Freshman forward Chase LaPinta scored his third goal of the season in Saturday’s 3-1 win over SCSU. “You just want to take advantage of the opportunity given to you,” LaPinta said. Photo by Logan Hock.
Despite out-shooting the Huskies 11-6 and generating several chances, the game remained tied after one period. Israels needed just 1:30 to change that in the second, as he fought through traffic and angled home his fifth of the season.
SCSU’s Jack Reimann tied the game at the 9:57 mark with a laser from the near faceoff circle. Yet that was the only shot that found its way past Simon Latkoczy, who made another 38 saves – including 32 over the final two periods. Latkoczy made several timely saves as well.
LaPinta’s goal came with 6:14 left in the second, courtesy of Broberg’s beautiful cross-ice feed, and Stange iced the game away in the final minute of regulation – sending a shot into the cage from the Omaha zone.
“I think we’ve just really played to our identity these last couple weeks,” LaPinta said. “We’ve got a lot of guys that are buying in to the process and we’re getting the outcomes that we’ve wanted.”
The Mavs put together another solid third-period effort to secure the sweep too, and they had to earn everything against a talented SCSU lineup.
Verner Miettinen, Austin Burnevik and Grant Ahcan all had Grade-A’s at the doorstep and SCSU had a number of looks on a late second-period power play.
SCSU had arguably its best look of the night with eight minutes left too, as Gavyn Thoreson came in on a breakaway and put a shot over Latkoczy – which he got a piece of and the shot fluttered off the crossbar.
Simon Latkoczy made 30 or more saves for the 11th time Saturday night and has now won five consecutive starts. Photo by Kyle Byers.
The Mavs also received a boost from the home crowd of 7,411, which Gabinet called ‘electric’ after the game, and added it felt like a playoff atmosphere. Now the Mavs will try to keep the momentum rolling.
“It’s a big win and (SCSU) is a good hockey team over there,” Gabinet said. “We’ll definitely take a couple moments to enjoy it and wins are tough to come by.”
Omaha (14-10-0, 10-4-0) heads to Denver next weekend and will return home Feb. 7-8 against Minnesota Duluth.
With Saturday’s three points and Arizona State’s 5-4 loss to Colorado College, Omaha sits alone in second in the NCHC standings with 29 points. Omaha has 10 regular-season games left – including four on home ice.
SCSU (11-13-0, 4-10-0) has dropped six straight and remains eighth in the conference with 14 points.
Omaha 0-2-1 – 3
St. Cloud State 0-1-0 – 1
First Period
No score
Second Period
Harrison Israels (Brady Risk, Nolan Krenzen), 1:30
Jack Reimann (Adam Ingram, Colin Ralph), 9:57
Chase LaPinta (Marcus Broberg, Harrison Israels), 13:46
Third Period
Sam Stange (unassisted), 19:23, ENG
SOG
Omaha 11-6-15 – 32
St. Cloud State 6-18-15 – 39
Power Play
Omaha – 0/1
St. Cloud State – 0/1
Saves
Simon Latkoczy, Omaha: 6-17-15 – 38
James Gray, St. Cloud State 11-4-14 – 29
Attendance
7,411
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