After two consecutive series ties with Colorado College and North Dakota, DU hockey continued their streak of one-win and one-loss weekends as the team faced No. 11 University of Nebraska Omaha. DU picked up a 4-1 victory on Saturday night followed by a 5-2 loss on Sunday, leaving the team with a 6-9-1 record as they sit at no. 19 in the NCAA rankings.

On Saturday, freshman forward Antti Tuomisto (Pori, Finland) picked up his first collegiate career goal in the first period with 13:52 remaining, only for the Mavericks to respond 17 seconds later. The rest of the period was scoreless.

In the second period, sophomore forward Bobby Brink (Minnetonka, Minn.) fed junior forward Hank Crone (Dallas, Texas) streaking to the net to give Denver back the lead. With under three minutes remaining in the period, freshman forward Carter Savoie (St. Albert, Alberta) added a goal to give Denver a two-goal lead going into the final period.

The third period was quieter than the first two with senior forward Jaakko Heikkinen (Helsinki, Finland) scoring the lone goal less than four minutes into the period, solidifying the win for DU.

On Sunday night, DU played an aggressive first period, outsourcing the Mavericks 14-8, but they couldn’t find their way to the goalpost with Omaha’s Jimmy Glynn sneaking past senior goaltender Corbin Kaczperski (China Township, Mich.) at 17:19.

Denver had the game at a draw for just over four minutes thanks to junior defenseman Slava Demin’s (Cypress, Calf.) goal in the back half of the second period. Omaha then scored on a power play to take back the lead 2-1.

“I thought we played well enough to win the game,” said Denver head coach David Carle. “We generated looks and generated chances, but unfortunately we weren’t able to put them in the back of the net.”

To open the final period, the Mavericks added cushion to their lead with another power-play goal, but Crone found the back of the net two minutes later. A second goal from Omaha’s Taylor Ward and an empty-netter with seconds remaining in the game solidified the win for the Mavericks.

The loss marks Denver’s first to Omaha since January 2015. DU hockey will be back in action this weekend for their second of three series against Colorado College. Both Friday and Saturday’s games will be played in Colorado Springs.