OMAHA, Neb. – The Western Michigan hockey team was forced to split with Omaha after suffering a 6-3 loss at Baxter Arena on Saturday night.

The Mavericks jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals in quick succession early in the first period. Tyler Weiss gave UNO a 1-0 lead after an attempt to clear the puck by a Bronco forward deflected off of him and over Trevor Gorsuch and into the net at 5:03. Fredrik Olofsson pushed the lead to 2-0 at 6:45. John Schuldt tried to pass the puck to Mason Morelli at the left of the net but the puck bounced off Morelli and into the slot for Olofsson to punch in for his ninth goal of the season.

Austin Rueschhoff cut the lead in half at 17:47 in the first period. Jamie Rome pushed the puck up to Drew Worrad along the boards. Worrad poked it out to Rueschhoff and the big forward dangled it around Evan Weninger and put it in the net for his 7th of the season.

Omaha added three goals in the second period to push the lead up to 5-1. The first came by Morelli just 1:08 into the period. Olofsson added his second of the night, this time on the power play at 8:12. Tristan Keck tallied at 11:40 on a goal in transition to end Gorsuch's night, with Ben Blacker coming in for relief.

The Broncos netted two goals near the end of the second period to cut the lead to 5-3. Wade Allison tallied his third of the season at 14:40, getting the puck from Colt Conrad and sliding it into the net after Weninger moved to the ground too early. Dawson DiPietro also picked up an assist on the goal to extend his point streak to three games.

Conrad netted his eighth of the season minutes later at 16:51 to cut the lead to 5-3. Jared Kucharek poked a loose puck to Conrad in the left circle and fired it into the net. The goal was his 100th career point as a Bronco, becoming the 59th player in program history to reach the century mark and the first since Shane Berschbach did so in 2014.

WMU was held scoreless in the third period, with Weninger making 12 of his 29 saves in the final 20 minutes. Morelli added an empty-net goal with 20 seconds remaining.

Western Michigan is off next weekend before hosting North Dakota on Feb. 15 and 16. Friday's game will start at 6:30 p.m. due to national television coverage by CBS Sports Network. Saturday's game is slated for 7:05 p.m. Tickets for both games are on sale at www.wmubroncos.com/tickets and by calling 1-888-4-WMUTIX.