Lancers Shake Off Rust in 5-2 Win
BY MIKE PATTERSON
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
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After shaking off the rust of a two-week layoff, the Omaha Lancers rolled to their fifth straight
victory Friday night against Waterloo.
The Lancers broke a 2-2 tie with three third-period goals en route to a 5-2 win over the Black
Hawks. The game, played in front of 4,030 (5,104 paid) at Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum, was
Omaha's first following a 12-day break for the holidays.
"You could tell we hadn't played for awhile,' Omaha Coach Mike Hastings said. "But we
dictated the play in the second period and made some things happen in the third.'
Forward Ryan Ronkowski broke the tie just 1:18 into the final period. He took a centering pass
from Jim Dahl and beat goalie Adam Hanna with a wrist shot from the slot.
"Jim got the puck to me in the middle and I was really happy to put it away,' Ronkowski said.
"We needed to come on because we felt we came out kind of flat in the first period.'
Mike Neilon added to the lead less than a minute later, taking advantage of a weird bounce off
the boards where the Zamboni machine enters the ice. The puck caromed past Hanna right to
Neilon, who fired the puck into the net for his third goal of the season.
"Chalk up another goal for the infamous Zamboni door,' Hastings said. "It's been pretty good
to us over the years.'
Dan Welch capped the scoring with a goal midway through the final period. He tapped in a
rebound of a shot by defenseman Jeremy Downs for his 17th goal of the season, tying him for
the team lead with Riley Riddell.
The Lancers' third-period outburst contrasted with a first period in which they manageed just
four shots on goal. But the Black Hawks also were held scoreless in the first 20 minutes by
goalie Ray Fraser.
Fraser, who has been nursing a hand injury, was making his first start since Nov. 22. Waterloo
had 17 shots on goal and Fraser made 15 stops.
"I felt a little off out there,' he said. "I should have done better, considering I didn't see that
many shots tonight.'
The Black Hawks, who lost 5-0 at Omaha two weeks ago, played with much more spark Friday
night. And it was Waterloo that took the early lead with a power-play goal by Ryan Markham
2:47 into the second period.
Omaha took advantage of a five-minute slashing penalty assessed against forward Luke
Fulghum to tie the game midway through the period. Dan Hacker scored on the power play,
putting a hard wrist shot over Hanna's glove.
The Black Hawks regained the lead on their second power-play goal with 7:36 left in the
period as Greg Poupard beat Fraser with a slap shot. But Riddell tied the game late in the
period, capping off a 3-on-1 break.
That set the stage for the three third-period goals and the win that boosted Omaha's record to
17-8-3. The Black Hawks fell to 12-11.
The Lancers return to action today at 2:30 p.m. with a home game against Dubuque. The
game was moved up from 7:05 p.m. so it wouldn't conflict with Nebraska's game against
Northwestern in the Alamo Bowl
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