• Box Score: UNO 5, Colorado College 3

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Ryan Walters scored two third-period goals Saturday night as UNO rallied from a 3-1, late second-period deficit for an important 5-3 victory over Nos. 14 and 15 Colorado College.

Walters scored a short-handed goal to tie the game just 2:48 into the third period after stealing the puck from steady defenseman Gabe Guentzel and breaking away alone against goalie Josh Thorimbert. He beat him with a high backhander.

Then Walters, a left-handed shot, took a head-man pass from Andrej Sustr and beat Thorimbert again, snapping in a shot from the right wing at 7:19.

The goals were the ninth and 10th of the season for Walters, a sophomore from Rosemount, Minn.

“Ryan was one of the best players on the ice tonight,” UNO coach Dean Blais said.

Jayson Megna added an empty-net goal with 40 seconds left, with Sustr picking up his third assist of the game.

The win, before a crowd of 7,321 at World Arena, allowed UNO to jump back into a three-way tie for fourth place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association with both Colorado College and North Dakota. It also provided some separation from seventh-place Michigan Tech, which picked up a point by tying North Dakota on Saturday.

The top six teams get home ice for the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

The Mavs (14-12-6, 11-8-5 WCHA) picked up five of a possible eight points in back-to-back road series at Michigan Tech and Colorado College. They finish the regular season with home series against first-place Minnesota and third-place Denver, ranked seventh and 10th, respectively, in the uscho.com poll. UNO is three points out of third.

“We played real well in this four-game segment, and now we’ve got another four-game segment — all at home — with two of the best teams in the country,” Blais said. “We’ll have a good week of practice and raise our level of play again.”

A late second-period goal had put UNO in a 3-1 deficit against Thorimbert, the WCHA leader in goals-against average (2.12) and save percentage (.929).

But defenseman Bryce Aneloski scored his fifth goal in nine games just seconds before the period ended, and Walters took over in the final period.

UNO goaltender John Faulkner made his first start in nine games, since giving up five goals on 39 shots in a 6-2 loss to then-No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth on Jan. 13.

But Ryan Massa started the third period after Faulkner gave up three goals in the second, and the freshman turned aside all 15 shots he faced to improve to 7-5-2.

“I just had a feeling Ryan had the ability to go in and shut them down in the third period, just like putting Johnny in for Ryan last Friday (in the first period at Michigan Tech),” Blais said. “It’s a gut feeling and you go with it, and usually it’s right.”

After Aneloski’s goal with six seconds left in the second, a delayed penalty was in effect, so the Mavs still had a power play of 1:54 to open the third period.

They couldn’t convert, but no problem: Walters scored short-handed after a penalty that came 26 seconds after the Mavs’ man advantage ended.

“The goal right at the end of the period, and the power play starting the third certainly helped us,” Blais said. “But we were playing well. Even though we were down 3-1, we were outplaying them. We didn’t panic and we held it together.

“There were times again in the first period where we played our best hockey of the year.”

UNO dominated the first period, outshooting the Tigers 16-3, but had to settle for just a one-goal lead.

UNO’s Dominic Zombo, who had an apparent game-tying goal off his skate with 2:56 left Friday overruled after officials — after watching replays — determined he had intentionally kicked the puck, finally got his first career goal in giving the Mavs a 1-0 lead at 11:43.

“There is a hockey God,” Blais said.

Defenseman Sustr set things up and got the first of his three assists, walking down to the side of the net and passing to Terry Broadhurst, who fed the freshman from Ballwin, Mo.

UNO’s 1-0 lead at the intermission didn’t last long. After 1:42 of the second period, CC led 2-1.

Colorado College captain Nick Dineen, an Omaha native, won a face off that set up a quick Alexander Krushelnyski goal just 32 seconds into the second period. Guentzel, son of former Omaha Lancers coach and UNO assistant Mike Guentzel, also got an assist.

UNO’s Matt White was sent off for holding just 30 seconds later — the sophomore’s season penalty minutes doubled, from 4 to 8, in the series — and Jaden Schwartz tapped in a rebound just 40 seconds into that power play. Guentzel got another assist on the play.

And the Tigers added one late in the period, following a Sustr turnover in the UNO zone. Scott Winkler fed David Civitarese with a centering pass, and Civitarese moved it to his backhand and scored.

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