Mike Gabinet wanted to see a response from his Omaha hockey team. The Mavericks dropped their NCHC opener in disappointing fashion on Friday, falling to No. 8 North Dakota, 7-2.
Gabinet’s message focused on learning and growing heading into the finale: “It’s only bad if you don’t get better, and you’ve got to find ways to keep improving.”
While it wasn’t the result his club had hoped for, Saturday’s performance was certainly an improvement from Game 1, and the Mavericks had their share of chances.
Yet Omaha came up empty-handed once again in a 4-1 loss to UND.
“There’s no moral victories,” Gabinet said. “We lost two games. We’ve got to deal with that and get better. But when you play like that and give yourself a chance at success, that’s what we’re looking for. Give North Dakota credit. I thought their goaltenders played excellent this weekend and with the talent they have there, they have the ability to capitalize if you make a mistake.”
Gabinet’s club fired 35 shots at UND goaltender Gibson Homer, who was terrific throughout the night. The 35 shots were Omaha’s single-game season high and also the most UND has allowed in a game this fall — 29 being the previous mark (at Clarkson, Oct. 24).
Omaha’s power play delivered a timely goal too, and the Mavs found themselves in a one-goal game for much of the third period.
“I thought the effort was there tonight to be successful,” Gabinet said. “Unfortunately, they capitalized on a couple of their opportunities. Two goals go in off our guys, but again, something to build on for our guys. I thought for maybe 10 or so minutes in the second period we got away from our game, but overall, we just couldn’t find a way to score tonight.”
Anthony Menghini and Cole Reschny scored UND’s first two goals of the night — Menghini’s coming 3:42 into the contest and Reschny’s 7:21 into the second. Menghini’s goal bounced off Marcus Broberg’s skate while Reschny’s also hit a skate, trickling through multiple Omaha defenders and barely sliding across the goal line. Reschny, a Calgary Flames first-round pick (2025), had five points (1-4-5) in the series.
Marc Lajoie scored Omaha’s lone goal late in the second, cutting the deficit in half. UND received a too many men minor at the 18:19 mark and Lajoie converted 31 seconds later.
18:50 | MAVERICK POWER PLAY GOAL!
LAJOIE COMING IN HOT 🔥
No. 8 North Dakota 2, Omaha 1
📺https://t.co/N4NrRwaac0#ForThe402 | @TheNCHC pic.twitter.com/1qjI0AVrkz
— Omaha Hockey (@OmahaHKY) November 9, 2025
The home side carried the momentum into the third too, as Omaha came out flying, searching for the equalizer. Luke Woodworth, Cameron Mitchell and Marcus Nguyen — who assisted Lajoie’s tally — created multiple chances and the Mavs drew a hooking minor on UND’s David Klee 3:03 in.
Omaha continued to push throughout the frame but saw its comeback bid take a massive blow, as UND’s Jack Kernan batted home his first of the season with 4:43 left. Kernan’s goal came off a Cody Croal two-on-one rebound at the top of the crease.
“You’ve got to get comfortable staying with your structure and investing in an efficient game,” Gabinet said of the message heading into the third. “If you try to take high risks against (UND), they’ll make you pay for it, so you have to just pound away. I thought the guys did that in the third period. Even on the six-on-five, I thought we had a couple really good looks there and their goalie made some nice saves.”
Omaha pulled Simon Latkoczy with 3:53 left and generated multiple chances during the ensuing six-on-five. Tyler Rollwagen had a golden opportunity just seconds prior too, firing a Jacob Guevin rebound off the end board — which Homer denied with a sprawling cross-crease save. He later robbed Sean Tschigerl from the slot as well.
Dylan James added an empty-netter with 3:13 left, securing the win and a sweep for the Fighting Hawks. North Dakota (7-3-0, 3-1-0) sits atop the NCHC standings with 10 points.
Omaha (4-4-0, 2-2-0) will head to Minnesota Duluth (10-2-0, 3-1-0) next weekend. The Bulldogs earned an overtime win over St. Cloud State Saturday night, taking five points in the series, and came in at No. 7 in last week’s USCHO Poll. Hurrdat Sports will have more on the series later this week.
Omaha returns home Nov. 21-22 against defending national champion Western Michigan.
Final line
Omaha 0-1-0 – 1
North Dakota 1-1-2 – 4
First Period
Anthony Menghini (E.J. Emery, Cole Reschny), 3:41
Second Period
Cole Reschny (Mac Swanson, Jake Livanavage), 7:21
Marc Lajoie (Marcus Nguyen, Sean Tschigerl), 18:50, PP
Third Period
Jack Kernan (Cody Croal, Abram Wiebe), 15:17
Dylan James (Cole Reschny, Will Zellers), 16:47, ENG
SOG
Omaha 14-10-11 – 35
North Dakota 6-13-5 – 24
Power Play
Omaha – 1/3
North Dakota – 0/2
Saves
Simon Latkoczy, Omaha: 5-12-3– 20
Gibson Homer, North Dakota: 14-9-11 – 34
Attendance
6,859
