College Hockey:

UNO Wastes Lead, Scores Late Goal to Beat Michigan

OMAHA, Neb. — UNO snapped Michigan’s five-game winning streak against the Mavericks with a 4-3 win on Friday night in front of a season-high 7,954 fans at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.

The Mavericks’ Alex Nikiforuk scored the game-winning goal with 2:19 remaining in regulation after Michigan rallied to tie the score with three third-period goals in a span of eight minutes.

UNO built a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Bill Thomas at the 2:34 mark and Mick Lawrence at 7:06.

The Mavericks extended their lead to 3-0 in the third period on Brandon Scero’s seventh goal of the year at 6:20. Michigan’s Matt Hunwick got his team on the board by scoring his first of two goals in the period at 8:33 to make the score 3-1. UM’s Jack Johnson made it a one-goal game with 3:48 remaining in the period, leading up to Hunwick’s goal just 1:03 later to tie the score at 3-3.

Nikiforuk then won the face off and weaved his way through traffic to score unassisted just six seconds later for the game-winner.

Maverick goaltender Jerad Kaufmann had 38 saves in the victory, including 16 in the final period.

Michigan outshot UNO 41-22 in the contest. Both teams were scoreless on the power play, with UNO going 0-3 while Michigan was 0-4.

UNO (18-11-4, 12-9-4 CCHA) will face Michigan (18-12-3, 13-9-3 CCHA) on Saturday night in the series finale at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.