Saturday, January 21, 2006

Sparty 4, Mavs 3: Oh so close

Last night's Michigan State/UNO game was epic; perhaps the best hockey game played in Omaha in years. Michigan State might be the hottest team in college hockey today; their Pairwise rating is 4th in the country, and they are on a 6 game winning streak with a couple of shutouts.

It was high-action hockey on both ends, with each team controlling the play for extended periods with several back and forth opportunities for either team to score. UNO had several chances to win the game at the end of the third period, plus in overtime. Bill Thomas was stopped several times on breakaways, including once in OT. But Sparty fired a nearly perfect shot into the back of the net to win the game in OT, gaining a small amount of revenge on UNO for their OT winner at Munn in November. Great crowd last night; one of the loudest in years.

Game 2 tonight; hopefully the Mavs can get a couple of points to split the series tonight. UNO can choose 2 ways to react to last night: come out even more determined to win, or fold. They really need tonight's game.

Fans who can't make it to the game can catch it on Nebraska Public TV.

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