­­FARGO, ND. – The Omaha Lancers headed north to take on the Fargo Force at Scheels Arena for the first time since Thanksgiving weekend of 2022.
 
The Lancers had a challenge ahead of them, not just because they were taking on the top team in the United States Hockey League, but because they were going against the best goaltender in the league, Matej Marinov.
 
Marinov entered last night (3/3) with a record of 18-0-1-2, meaning he has not lost a game in regulation since the Lancers swept the Force in the western conference quarterfinals last April.
 
The Lancers did not get the start they wanted as they found themselves down 3-0 through 20 minutes.
 
Two goals within the opening five minutes from Joe Palodichuk and Kevin Scott got things going for Fargo, as that was followed up with another goal with just 40 seconds left in the period by Tanner Walos to make it 3-0 after the opening period.
 
Entering the second period, the Lancers seemed to stop the bleeding, only giving up a few scoring chances to the Force and allowing eight shots on goal which all were turned aside by Omaha goaltender, Kevin Pasche.
 
The lone goal of the second period came off the stick of Justin Stupka for his third of the season off a play set up by Haden Kruse and Aleksi Kivioja to make it a 3-1 game to enter the final period.
 
The powerful Fargo offense resumed in the third period with three more unanswered goals. This time coming from Anthony Menghini and Girts Silkalns.
 
Four minutes into the final period, Menghini managed to find the slot after skating the perimeter of the offensive zone and went top-shelf to make it a 4-1 game.
 
That was followed by a power-play goal by Silkalns for the lone goal on the man advantage to pull ahead by four. Then half a period later, Menghini netted his second of the night on a wrap-around to go ahead 6-1 and close out the victory.
 
The Lancers will be out for revenge on Saturday, March 4^th for a 6:05PM puck drop at Scheels Arena. That game can be caught on FloSports and Mixlr.