GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- One thing University of North Dakota hockey teammates learned Saturday night was that sophomore Jordan Kawaguchi is a man of his words.
 
Kawaguchi's giveaway in his defensive zone allowed Nebraska-Omaha to tie the National Collegiate Hockey Conference game at 4 with an extra attacker and the goalie pulled and just 67 seconds left in regulation play.
 
But before the start of a 5-minute, sudden death overtime period, Kawaguchi did something remarkable. He said what he would do, then he did it.
 
"That turnover was on me,'' Kawaguchi said of losing the puck to Omaha's Tristen Keck, who buried his wrist shot to force overtime.
 
"I take responsibility for that,'' Kawaguchi added. "I should have gotten that puck out that area, and I didn't. They scored.''
 
Rather than hang his head over that play, Kawaguchi stepped up, first verbally then with his team-leading 10th goal of the season, becoming the first on the team to hit double digits in goal through 35 games.
 
"I felt pretty bad about myself, but I came back to the bench and told the boys, 'hey, that's on me' but I'm going to get (cover) your back, I've got this one. Just so happens, the first chance I got was right on the first shift.''
 
Linemates Rhett Gardner and Nick Jones pressed an Omaha defenseman behind the net into losing the puck out front, where Kawaguchi was waiting 16 seconds into overtime to bury his second goal of the game with his wrister over the shoulder of goalie Evan Weninger. The goal extended UND's win streak to three games heading into a best-of-3 NCHC first round playoff series at Denver University next weekend. UND goes into the playoffs as the No, 5 seed, hence the trip to fourth-place Denver.
 
On Senior Night honoring UND's five seniors, two of them, Rhett Gardner and Nick Jones, had a hand in UND's first and last goals to complete their careers at Ralph Engelstad Arena in glorious fashion.
 
Coach Brad Berry started three seniors and was rewarded 37 seconds into the game when Gardner fed Jones off a 2-on-1 rush for Jones to tip in a back-hander off the Gardner feed.
 
Then though neither Gardner nor Jones drew assists on Kawaguchi's unassisted game-winning goal, it was their checking behind the net that forced the costly Omaha turnover to end the game.
 
North Dakota had built a 4-2 lead in the third period on goals by linemates Cole Smith at 5:41 and Gavin Hain at 10:43, but Omaha rallied with goals from Nate Knoepke and Keck to force the short-lived overtime.
 
"Our seniors wanted to end their career at the Ralph with a win, with a sweep,'' Berry said. "They did that.'' 
 
Besides Gardner and Jones, the other seniors are defenseman Matt Shaw, reserve goalie Ryan Anderson and forward Joel Janatuinen, who has been out the last 17 games with an undisclosed illness.
 
"It's huge,'' Smith said of sending the seniors off with a win and a sweep. "We talked about it all week, especially for our seniors, They've put so much into this program. We needed to go out and show them how much they meant to us. And I think they did.''
 
Now a bigger obstacle lies ahead, as North Dakota, 18th in the Pairwise Rankings used to choose the 16-team NCAA field, will have to win its way in during the playoffs
 
"The challenge going forward here, and our guys are embracing it, we're going on the road, and we're going to continue this thing,'' Berry  said. "The only game that matters is next Friday night on the road.''
 
After Jones' opening goal 37 seconds after first faceoff, Omaha rallied with goals from Tyler Weiss in the first period and Zach Jordan on a power play at 3:28 of the second to take a 2-1 lead.
 
But UND tied it on Kawaguchi's power-play wrist shot at 9:17 of the second period, then took the 4-2 lead on goals by Smith and Hain in the third before Omaha forced the lightning-quick overtime.
 
Game notes: UND outshot Omaha 46-21 with Weninger making 41 saves for Omaha and Peter Thome 17 for UND . . . Both teams were 1-for-4 on the power play  . . . named the three stars of the game by the media were Kawaguchi, Smith and Jones, in that order . . . UND won the faceoff battle 34-27, led by Gardner (16 of 21) and Jones (5 of 7) . . . Kawaguchi led UND in shots on goal with 6, followed by Jackson Keane with 5 . . . Jordan had 6 of Omaha's 21 shots on net . . .Paid attendance was 10,991, but actually attendance was several thousand under that due to highways being closed due to a major winter snowstorm . . . the fans who were there were judged to be one of the most active of the year in their vocal support, though, by the media.
 
 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.