No. 1 Minnesota Edges Michigan State 5-4 in College Hockey Showcase

The top-ranked University of Minnesota men's hockey team survived a shootout tonight with No. 6 Michigan State, prevailing 5-4 with Alex Goligoski netting the game-winner with 8:40 remaining in the period. The Golden Gophers (11-1-2, 6-0-2 WCHA) led 4-2 to open the third period, but the Spartans (6-5-1, 4-4-1 CCHA) rallied with two goals in 36 seconds to set the stage for Goligoski's heroics. With the hard-fought win, Minnesota pushed its nation-best unbeaten streak to 13 games (11-0-2).

The Maroon and Gold got multi-point nights from Alex Goligoski (1-2--3), Blake Wheeler (1-1--2), Evan Kaufmann (1-1--2) and Mike Vannelli (0-2--2) to help UM move its College Hockey Showcase unbeaten streak to seven games (6-0-1). The Golden Gophers also pushed their home unbeaten streak to 16 games (15-0-1), while Head Coach Don Lucia notched his 200th career win at Minnesota.

The Golden Gophers took a 2-1 lead into the first intermisson, scoring the first and third goals of the period. Minnesota drew first blood at 13:40 with Derek Peltier's first goal of the season. Evan Kaufmann's shot from the right circle was blocked to the slot where Ryan Stoa fanned on a shot attempt, allowing Peltier to fire the loose puck high to the glove side to beat MSU goaltender Jeff Lerg.

The Spartans struck back two minutes later when Justin Abdelkader dug the puck from behind the net and fed Tim Kennedy in front to go high to the stick side to beat UM netminder Jeff Frazee.

Minnesota re-gained the lead with 36.5 seconds to go in the period when Blake Wheeler deflected an Alex Goligoski shot from the point to beat Lerg to the stick side. Mike Vannelli picked up the second assist on Wheeler's eighth tally of the season. For the period, the Maroon and Gold out-shot Michigan State, 7-6.

The Spartans tied the game early in the second period, but the Golden Gophers rallied late in the stanza to take a 4-2 lead into the second intermission. Only 1:18 into the period, UM defenseman Erik Johnson turned the puck over in the defensive zone with Abdelkader gaining possession and going high to the glove side from the slot to make the score 2-2.

Minnesota pushed its lead to two goals with a pair of lamplighters with less than five minutes to go in the period. At 15:23, Jay Barriball took a shot from the left circle with Wheeler tipping the puck behind the net. Gordon picked up the puck on the right side and fired a turnaround shot to beat Lerg to the glove side.

The Maroon and Gold made the score 4-2 at 17:17 with Kaufmann's second goal of the season. Taking a Tony Lucia feed, Goligoski shot from the point with Kaufmann re-directing the puck to beat Lerg to the 5-hole. For the period, Minnesota out-shot Michigan State 12-6.

The Spartans rallied in the third period with two goals in 36 seconds to knot the game at 4-4, before Goligoski played the hero at 11:20. MSU began their rally at 7:06 when Kennedy tipped a Tyler Howells shot in front to beat Frazee to the 5-hole for a power-play goal. Abdelkader got the second assist for his third point of the night.

Just 36 seconds later, Michael Ratchuk made it 4-4 with his third goal of the season. Taking a Chris Mueller pass in the slot, Ratchuk ripped a one-timer to Frazee's stick side to complete the Spartan rally.

The Golden Gophers re-gained the lead at 11:20 with a power-play goal by Goligoski to preserve the Minnesota unbeaten streak. Tyler Hirsch took a Vannelli pass at the right circle and threaded a feed to the left circle for Goligoski to fire a one-timer to beat Lerg to the glove side. The marker was Goligoski's fifth of the season and second game-winner of the year. For the period, Minnesota out-shot Michigan State, 14-5.

For the game, the Maroon and Gold owned a 33-17 advantage on the shot board. Both teams went 1-for-4 on the power play. Frazee got the win with 13 saves to improve to 7-1-1, while Lerg got the loss with 28 saves, falling to 6-5-1.

The Golden Gophers wrap up the College Hockey Showcase tomorrow night against seventh-ranked Michigan, a 4-3 winner over Wisconsin tonight in Madison. Tomorrow's contest faces off at 7:07 p.m., and will be televised on FSN North.

Game Notes
• The Golden Gophers lead the all-time series against Michigan State with a 100-41-9 record, including a 54-14-5 mark at home.
• Minnesota is on a six-game unbeaten streak (3-0-3) against the Spartans. UM has not lost to MSU since a 3-2 defeat on Nov. 24, 2000, at Mariucci Arena.
• The Golden Gophers are on a seven-game unbeaten streak (6-0-1) in the College Hockey Showcase. Minnesota has not lost a CHS game since falling 3-1 to Michigan on Dec. 1, 2003.
• Minnesota owns a 15-9-3 College Hockey Showcase mark, followed by Michigan (15-11-1), Michigan State (13-11-3) and Wisconsin (7-19-1).
• The Maroon and Gold is on a 13-game unbeaten streak (11-0-2, 6-0-2 WCHA), a 16-game home unbeaten streak (15-0-1, 11-0-1), a school-record 17-game road unbeaten streak (13-0-4, 10-0-3 WCHA) and a 20-game unbeaten streak in WCHA games (17-0-3).
• Current streaks for Golden Gophers:
- Kyle Okposo: seven-game point streak (5-5--10)
- Tyler Hirsch: six-game point streak (2-8--10)
- Blake Wheeler: three-game point streak (2-2--4)
- Tony Lucia: two-game point streak (1-1--2)
- Ryan Stoa: two-game point streak (1-1--2)
• Minnesota is 381-233-38 all-time against Big Ten opponents, including a 15-4-2 mark under Don Lucia and a 5-0-0 mark this season.
• The Golden Gophers are 24-11-7 as the nation's No. 1 team under Lucia, including a 3-0-0 mark this season.
• The Maroon and Gold is 72-47-8 against ranked opponents in the last six-plus seasons, including a 3-1-0 mark this season.
• UM's 11-1-2 start to the season is its best 14-game season-opening record since the 2001-02 team begain the season with an 11-1-2 mark.
• Minnesota is 114-33-14 at home under Don Lucia, including a 7-0-1 mark this season.
• The Maroon and Gold is 9-1-2 (6-0-2 WCHA) in games played in the state of Minnesota this season.
• With his 200-87-28 record at Minnesota, Don Lucia stands in second place on the school's career wins list. Doug Woog (390-187-40 from 1985-99) leads the chart.
• The Golden Gophers are out-scoring their opponents 36-20 in even-strength situations, 19-9 in power plays and 3-0 in shorthanded situations.
• Out of 42 total periods this season, Minnesota has posted 21 shutouts.
• Minnesota is out-scoring its opponents 18-7 in the first period, 26-12 in the second, 16-10 in the third and 1-0 in overtime.
• Minnesota has scored a power-play goal in 11 of 14 games this season.
• UM is 9-0-1 when scoring first, 7-0-2 when leading after one period and 9-0-1 when leading after two.
• Minnesota has notched 30 or more shots in 13 of 14 games this season. UM has out-shot its opponents in all 14 contests.
• In the last seven games, Minnesota's top two lines of Ben Gordon-Blake Wheeler-Jay Barriball and Ryan Stoa-Kyle Okposo/Evan Kaufmann-Tyler Hirsch have a combined 24 goals and 25 assists, including totals of 3-5--8 tonight.
• Nine different Golden Gophers are responsible for Minnesota's 11 game-winning goals.
• Minnesota has not been shut out in 15 games - the third-longest streak in the WCHA behind Denver's 34 games and St. Cloud State's 18.
• UM is 12-2-0 in their last 14 games against ranked opponents.
• Minnesota owns a 4-0-0 record in one-goal games, 2-1-0 in two-goal games and 5-0-0 in three-goal or more games.
• The Golden Gophers are 54-14-7 under Lucia in games against non-WCHA teams, including a 5-1-0 mark this season.
• Minnesota has killed off 13 of the last 14 opponent power plays.
• UM has limited its opponents to 25 or fewer shots in 10 of 13 contests this season.
• The Maroon and Gold is now 3-0-1 when giving up a lead this season.
• Minnesota owns an 8-0-2 record this season when a player notches a multi-point game.
• Five times this season, Minnesota has had 10 or more players score at least one point in a game, including the 10 Golden Gophers with a point tonight.
• The Golden Gophers have scored four or more goals in seven of 14 games this season.
• Jeff Frazee is 7-0-1 this season when Minnesota scores three or more goals. 

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