MARQUETTE - Marquette-native Justin Florek was 9 when the Northern Michigan University hockey team first played the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks.

Friday, Florek - now a sophomore forward for the Wildcat hockey team - scored two goals against No. 12-ranked UNO en route to a 5-1 Northern home win.

Florek's first score - a response to UNO forward John Kemp's goal - knotted the game at one apiece.

After Florek found the back of the net and celebrated, NMU fans responded with a statement of their own, throwing an octopus onto the Berry Events Center ice.

"I loved it," Florek said of the incident. "I've read a little bit about the tradition of UNO throwing the fish on the ice after the first goal, and growing up, I watched Northern guys throw the fish out when UNO played here.

"I was laughing," he added. "It was great."

Florek wasn't the only member of the NMU hockey team having success and enjoying it against the Mavericks.

Mark Olver added his seventh goal of the season in the second period, scoring on a one-handed backhand shot with UNO defenseman Eric Olimb draped on his left shoulder.

In the third period, Greger Hanson scored his second goal of the year; and former Marquette Rangers Junior forward Chad Pietila followed Hanson's marker with his first goal as a Wildcat.

"We had good effort across the board," NMU head coach Walt Kyle said. "We had a number of guys contributing.

"The guys understand (that) it's only half the job. We have to come back(tonight) and do what we need to do."

According to NMU co-captain Billy Smith - who pushed the Maverick (5-3-3, 2-3-2-1 Central Collegiate Hockey Association) defenders toward exhaustion on three consecutive high-energy shifts - the win can be directly attributed to effort.

"I think it just goes to show the type of team we can be whenever we compete," Smith said of the win.

In fact, if you were to ask Nebraska-Omaha head coach Dean Blais, he'd say there wasn't much about the Wildcats (4-5-2, 3-3-1 CCHA) that wasn't great Friday night.

Blais said the Wildcats cycled the puck "better than any team we've seen" and that NMU's transition game - which resulted in a slew of breakaway opportunities -were contributing factors to the Wildcat win.

"I think Northern's better than a lot of people think they are," Blais said. "I think anytime you can skate and make plays, you're a good team.

"They really didn't have a weakness in that game tonight," he added.

The only blemish on NMU goaltender Brian Stewart's record from Friday would be the first period goal. Even that blemish comes with a footnote.

"We left him out to dry on the goal they got," Kyle said. "We made a bad mistake there. Overall, his performance was very solid, very solid."

Stewart had 23 saves on 24 UNO shots. UNO goalie John Faulkner had 25 saves on 30 NMU shots.