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#RivalryNight in Omaha

By Omaha Hockey Club, 01/30/17, 2:30PM CST

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Junior Varsity Move to 20-0-0

Omaha, NE | A goal thirteen seconds into the opening period is all the Junior Lancers JV team would need to knock off their 20th win of the season against the Lincoln Junior Stars on Friday night.

 

The junior varsity squad improved to 20-0-0 on the season boasting their league leading 10th shutout in 20 games. Jack Lawlor would face 18 shots for his 10th shutout of the season; currently he boasts a 0.85 goals against average and a 0.941 save percentage.  But none of this would not be possible without his great team in front of him providing the much needed defense night in and night out.

 

“My team does an excellent job clearing the net and blocking shots to limit the amount of pucks that I see each game, they make it easy for me to do my job,” said Lawlor.

 

Junior Joe Negrete scored the only goal that the Junior Lancers JV would need in the contest just 13 seconds into the game with assists going to Ben Bergman and Collin Price.

 

When approached after the game about their success this season Negrete stated, “We have some great team chemistry and a lot of trust in each other, and ten shutouts certainly never hurts.” He also added,
“We have a great offensive approach to our game, we attack and have been successful.”

 

This is evident with the club having scored 120 goals in 20 games averaging 6 goals a game while only allowing 17 goals against which averages less than a goal per game which plays into those ten shut outs.

 

Scoring additional goals for the Junior Lancers JV were; Joe Negrete (Ben Bergman, Collin Price), Alex Rynes (Kobe Alexander, Harrison Werner), Ben Bergman (Joe Negrete, Dane Hickey), Gage Barnard (Grant Benson, Kobe Alexander), Gage Barnard (Jackson Guhl), Brock James (Jackson Guhl), Ben Bergman (unassisted), Collin Price (Ben Bergman, Joe Negrete).

 

Rivalry Night at the Ralston Arena would live up to the name on Friday night as the two varsity teams battled it out with Omaha winning 3-2 to take the first two games in the season series between Omaha and Lincoln.

 

Omaha would go up 2-0 in the first period on goals from the Lincoln Lancers; Austin Eastep (Dane Hickey, Alec Skradski) and Zach Gruhn (short handed) (unassisted).

 

Lincoln would counter in the second period scoring two of their own both on the power play by Colten Cole (power play) (Blake Glaser) and Colten Cole (power play) (Creighton Westesen, Brayden Roberts).

 

Scoring the game winner at the 10:20 mark of the third period was Brendan Hill (Austin Eastep, Alec Skradski).

 

Goalie Luke Weberg would come up with some big saves late in the game to preserve the lead, stopping 28 of 30 shots for the win, while Will Jennings stopped 37 of 40 shots for the loss.

 

“I made a couple of big saves in the third where one of them I was down and out but managed to get a toe on the puck and shut the door on the Stars.” stated Weberg. “My adrenalin was pumping for sure.”

 

There was a hefty crowd on hand to witness the action packed game with over 600 fans in the stands on Friday night.

 

“This might have been the most attended OJL game since our Nationals game vs Tennessee back in Omaha in 2014. This is what high school hockey is all about – what an awesome crowd!” exclaimed coach Nick Harrahill. “We have a couple of more Friday night games this season and I hope to see similar crowds at each of those contests as well – it certainly is a home ice advantage.”

 

The crowd which consisted mainly of high school students took in the action on Friday night.

 

“We decided to take a proactive approach to this and printed out tickets for each of the players to hand out at school and challenged them to get everyone out. Anyone that had a ticket would get into the game for free and each of those students brought at least one other with them.  It was a great experience for these young men.” stated coach Alex Euerle.  We have a few more Friday night games this season and plan on doing similar promotions with those games too.  This Friday is going to be against the Des Moines Oak Leafs and it will be Pack The House High School Night, let’s see how many we can get into the arena to make some noise and support the teams.”

 

Next action will be Friday February 3 at 6 pm JV and 8 pm Varsity and then again back at home on Saturday for a 2:45 pm JV tilt and varsity to follow at approximately 4:30 pm.  Come out and support the team – Students are only $1 and Adults are $5 – see you at the Ralston Arena.

 

Upcoming games…

 

 

Junior Varsity Start

Varsity Start

 

Friday February 3, 2017

6:00 PM

8:00 PM

Pack the House – High School Night

Saturday February 4, 2017

2:45 PM

4:30 PM

 

Friday February 10, 2017

6:00 PM

8:00 PM

Alumni Night

Saturday February 11, 2017

3:00 PM

5:00 PM

Military Appreciation Night

Sunday February 12, 2017

10:00 AM

12:00 PM

 

Saturday February 25, 2017

3:00 PM

5:00 PM

Senior Night – Alumni Night