Gophers rally to manage a tie

The U, hit hard by injuries from Friday's game, lost captain Ryan Stoa to a major penalty early vs. the Spartans.

By ROMAN AUGUSTOVIZ, Star Tribune

Last update: November 30, 2008 - 4:29 PM

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COLLEGE HOCKEY SHOWCASE GOPHERS 4, MICHIGAN STATE 4

Up next: vs. Colorado College • Dec. 13-14 • Mariucci Arena

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This almost turned out to be a totally lost College Hockey Showcase weekend for the Gophers. Except on Saturday, playing without four players, Minnesota rallied from two goals down twice.

After a scoreless overtime, the Gophers tied Michigan State 4-4 after trailing 2-0 and 4-2 at Mariucci Arena on the second night of the showcase.

Juniors Mike Carman and Jay Barriball and freshman Taylor Matson had MRIs and didn't play.

All three forwards had lower-body injuries from the Gophers' 6-3 loss to Michigan on Friday in the first game of the showcase, an annual interconference event pitting the WCHA against CCHA. Matson is out for the season, Gophers coach Don Lucia said, and the other two will be back either for the Colorado College series in two weeks or after the holiday break.

Also out against MSU, after the first six minutes, was junior forward and captain Ryan Stoa. He received a major penalty for checking from behind and a game disqualification.

"We had our big stars out tonight," said Joe Miller, a freshman winger playing in his second game, "so a bunch of guys who hadn't played [much] had an opportunity. I thought they did well, and it shows the depth of our team."

The Gophers will surely lose their No. 1 rating this week after falling to 7-2-5 overall. But they were able to tie the struggling Spartans (4-9-3) because Justin Bostrom scored his second goal of the season -- his first came Friday -- and Miller, Nick Larson and Patrick White all scored their first goals.

White's goal, off a nifty pass from defenseman Aaron Ness, tied the score at 4-4 at 6 minutes, 20 seconds of the third period. It came on the Gophers' lone power play of the game.

White, a Grand Rapids, Minn., sophomore who had six goals last season, beat MSU goalie Drew Palmisano from the left edge of the crease on a one-timer. "It felt really good," White said, "but after you go through the line and you pound gloves, you are right back in it and thinking, 'We got to get one more.' "

That never happened.

Michigan State appeared to be the perfect patsy for the Gophers, who had lost two in a row. MSU came in with a seven-game losing streak in which the Spartans had six goals. On Friday in its first showcase game, MSU lost 3-1 and was outshot 53-12 at Wisconsin.

But for the third game in a row Saturday, Minnesota fell behind 2-0. Freshman Daultan Leveille of the Spartans scored at 10:44 at the end of a five-minute power play following Stoa's major penalty. Senior Daniel Sturges made it 2-0 a minute later.

The Gophers, outshot 11-7, showed a little life late in the opening period on a penalty kill. Bostrom, a senior winger, scored short-handed at 15:30.

Miller's goal came from the slot, Larson on a tip.

"I thought we could have dug in a little bit better in our own end," Lucia said, "and maybe prevented four goals and had a chance to win. But, all in all, I thought our guys battled tonight."

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