GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- With a slim hope of finishing in the top half of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference alive heading into Friday's game with Nebraska-Omaha, the University of North Dakota finished strong and with momentum once that hope died with Western Michigan's win over Miami of Ohio.
 
UND snapped a 1-1 tie at 2:13 of the third period on a Nick Jones deflection of a center point shot by defenseman Colton Poolman at 2:53 to give the Fighting Hawks a 2-1 victory over the Mavericks.
 
Despite the win, UND learned during the game that Western Michigan had won, relegating it to a NCHC first-round playoff series at either Western Michigan or Denver next weekend, pending Saturday's results.
 
Jones, a senior center/wing, came back from missing four games with an injury to score his sixth goal of the season, which turned into the game-winner and earned him No, 1 star of the game honors.
 
Jones won an offensive zone draw to start the play, cleanly getting the puck to Poolman. "He made a helluva play, found me off to the side there, and I was able to get a stick on it,'' Jones said. "I felt like a lot of tips all year haven't been going my way. I've had some tips that just aren't finding the net. I was fortunate to get that one.''
 
Beating Omaha and moving up to No. 18 in the Pairwise took some of the sting off failing to win home ice for the league playoffs, a first for UND since the formation of the NCHC.
 
"We knew it wasn't in our hands this weekend in the first place,'' Jones said. "We know we're going to have to win tomorrow night, and two games on the road next weekend and see where we're at then. You'd love to play at home, especially me, with my last game tomorrow at home. But at the end of the day, we've got to win two games. I don't care where it is. We're going to win two games.''
 
UND received another superb performance in goal from sophomore Peter Thome (23 saves) to match a brilliant 38-save game from Omaha goalie Evan Weninger.
 
And the other half of UND's offense came from sophomore defenseman Gabe Bast, who scored his fifth of the year with a wraparound on Weninger at 3:45 of the first period after Bast blasted down right wing, circled the net and beat Weninger to the short side.
 
Omaha tied it on a 5-on-3 power play 47 seconds into the second period on Zach Jordan's eighth of the season. That power play came after Zach Yon and Rhett Gardner took minor penalties 19 seconds apart late in the second period. 
 
UND coach Brad Berry had a simple message for his players after they saw following the second period that their hopes of home ice for the playoffs had been dashed. "Just go play the game,'' Berry said "Now that we know we're going on the road, we've got to string some games together and keep climbing here. It is what it is.''
 
Besides the return of Jones, UND got a boost from the return of sophomore forward Grant Mismash as well. Mismash, who has been out nine games with a leg injury, was spotted into the lineup as the extra skater. He finished with three shots on goal (Jones had 4) and gave UND another weapon on the power play with his big shot.
 
Berry preached a positive message around failing to earn home ice for the first round of league playoffs. "We've seen what  teams that got into the tournament over the last few years, what they've done. We just have to make the tournament. It's got to be a single-game mindset. Nothing else matters but tomorrow night.''
 
To Berry's point, Minnesota Duluth was the last team to squeeze into the NCAA 16-team tournament last season, getting in by a percentage of .001 over Minnesota, then going on to win the national title.
 
"We battled hard,'' Bast said of UND's performance, in which it outshot Omaha 40-24. "Obviously, the final 40 minutes wasn't the prettiest hockey, but we got the job done.''
 
Bast said the players saw on a TV set outside the UND dressing room that Western Michigan had won, meaning UND won't be at home for the playoffs. 
 
"That doesn't change anything we have to do,'' Bast said. "If we have to win a series on the road, we're going to go do that.''
 
Game notes: Poolman, Yon, Jones and Gavin Hain all had 4 shots on net to lead UND . . . Minot native Mason Morelli had 4 shots to lead Omaha . . . Defenseman Matt Kiersted had 5 of UND's 18 blocked shots . . . Named the three stars by the media were Jones, Bast and Thome, in that order . . . UND lost the faceoffs 29-25 with Cole Smith's 2-for-2 wins the best for his team . . . The game drew a crowd of 10,776 to Ralph Engelstad Arena even though students are on spring break. . Weninger made over half of his saves (20 of 38) in the first period when UND had a 21-6 shot advantage . . . UND will either play at Denver (who lost 2-1 vs. Colorado College Friday) or Western Michigan in the opening round . . . UND will be on the road for the first round of the conference playoffs for the first time in 17 years. 

Virg Foss covered UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald, including 5 NCAA title teams, before his retirement. Since his retirement, he's reported on UND hockey games exclusively for FightingHawks.com. This marks his 50th season since he began covering UND hockey in 1969.