Mavs Move Into 2nd Place Tie with 8-4 Victory over Colorado College

Yeah, that's plural men in the crease.

It didn't take UNO long to wipe the bad taste of last weekend out of their mouth; 1:13 to be precise when freshman Tanner Lane scored his first career goal of the game.  UNO had a second goal waived off shortly thereafter for men in the crease; an easy call as you can see.  Sophomore Josh Archibald got it back with a nice power play goal that gave UNO a lead they would never relinquish the rest of the night.

UNO exploded again at the start of the second period with junior Zahn Raubenheimer's diving goal as he was being hooked by Colorado College's Peter Stoykewch just 25 seconds after the intermission.  Archibald added his second goal of the night on the resulting power play to put UNO up 4-1. CC's Mike Boyvin scored the first of his three goals on the night to cut the UNO lead to 4-2 when UNO quickly added goals by Lane and Ryan Walters to put UNO in command 6-2.

From that point on, UNO seemed to play it safe until the Tigers cut the lead to 6-4 after the Boyvin's third goal with five minutes left in the game.  Matt White sealed the victory though with an unassisted goal 17 seconds later, and then Archibald claimed the hat trick in the final minute of the game.  It's the first hat trick for a UNO player since Bill Thomas (now playing for the AHL affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche) against Alabama-Huntsville in December 2005.

The victory moved UNO into a tie for second place with North Dakota and Denver with 17 points.  Since North Dakota and first place St. Cloud State are playing non-conference games, a UNO win on Saturday night moves the Mavs into sole possession of first place in the WCHA.

I'm trying to remember if UNO has ever been in first place in the conference before, except possibly in the first or second week of the season.  Certainly not after Christmas.  And with one goal and three assists tonight, junior Ryan Walters is the leading scorer in the nation with 32 points.  He leads the nation in goals with 13, and is second in the nation in assists with 19.

That's a big win for UNO tonight, but it'll be pretty hollow if UNO doesn't claim some points on Saturday night.  Especially with a road trip to #11 Denver next weekend...