• Box Score: Waterloo 4, Omaha 2
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There are those occasional hockey games where teams can get away with a few mental lapses and mistakes but still come away with a win.
Saturday wasn’t one of those nights for the Omaha Lancers.
The Lancers survived a lackluster first period, came out strong in the second period but didn’t get rewarded for their efforts before Waterloo finished them off in the final 20 minutes of a 4-2 United States Hockey League setback.
It was just the fifth time in the past 22 games that the Lancers (25-13-3) lost in regulation.
“I was very disappointed in our first period,” Lancers coach Mike Aikens said. “Alex (Lyon) made some good saves because we easily could have been down 4-0. I didn’t go into the locker room after the first period. I left it up to the captains to straighten out their team.”
As rough as Omaha’s first 20 minutes went, it still only trailed 1-0 heading into the first intermission. Waterloo scored just 4:04 into the game — played before 3,893 at Civic Auditorium — when A.J. Michaelson broke in on the left wing before scoring his fifth goal of the season.
It took the Black Hawks (21-12-5) less than two minutes to build their lead to 2-0 in the second period when Mattias Cleland sent a left point shot through traffic and past Lyon for his first career USHL goal. But that’s when Omaha came to life and got Waterloo’s lead back down to one.
Tanner Lane took a centering pass from behind the net by Nolan Zajac and knocked home his sixth goal of the season two steps in front of the Waterloo crease.
After being outshot 15-7 in the first period, the Lancers sent the puck toward the Black Hawks net 19 times, but only Lane was able to convert.
“We didn’t get the bounces and breaks we’ve been getting lately because we could have come out with a lead after that period,” Aikens said. “I thought we could have scored eight goals in that period. We were better in the second period than they were in the first period, we just didn’t get rewarded for it.”
Though they took just seven second-period shots, the Black Hawks got two of those to go in. The second was a power-play goal by Ryan Papa that came off of one of the best-run man-advantage plays the Lancers have faced this season.
Waterloo again scored early in the third period when Aaron Pearce pounced on a rebound at the top of the Lancers’ goal crease and popped home his ninth goal of the season. Casey Bailey scored his team-leading 19th goal of the season for the Lancers, but only 2:50 remained in the game.
“It was just one of those nights when the puck bounced their way,” Aikens said. “Some of the things we’ve been getting away with we didn’t tonight. That team was opportunistic and made us pay for our mistakes.”
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