St. Cloud – St. Cloud State rallied for two goals late in the third period to tie the No. 7 Gophers 3-3 on Friday afternoon in WCHA women's hockey.
Because neither team scored in overtime, the game will officially count as a draw, although the Huskies won a three-round shootout 1-0 on Kayla Friesen's goal for the extra point in the conference standings.
"Disappointing result," Gophers coach Brad Frost said. "The team played extraordinary well for the majority of the game and if you are up 3-1 with a few minutes to go, you've got to win … and we let it slip away."
The tie ended Minnesota's 37-game winning streak against the Huskies (6-17-5, 4-13-4-1 WCHA) dating to Feb. 13, 2010. Now it's a 38-game unbeaten streak for the Gophers in the rivalry. And, more importantly, the tie dropped Minnesota to No. 7 in the PairWise rankings, near the bubble for an at-large NCAA bid.
Friesen, a sophomore forward from Winnipeg, also started SCSU's late comeback. She got SCSU's second goal with 2:13 left in the third on a power-play and the Huskies' goalie pulled. Then, with the goalie still out of the net, Julia Tylke tied the score with 1:32 left.
Laura Kluge gave St. Cloud State a 1-0 lead at 11:09 of the first.
But Minnesota (19-8-3, 12-6-3) scored twice late in the opening period to take the lead. Taylor Williamson tied the score 1-all at 15:25 of the first. And Olivia Knowles put the Gophers ahead with 26 seconds left in the period.
Caitlin Reilly made it 3-1 Minnesota on a goal midway through the middle period.
