The No. 6 Gophers women's hockey team extended its eight-year winning streak over St. Cloud State to 36 games in a row on Saturday afternoon, but just barely.
Minnesota scored three goals in a wild third period — as did the Huskies — to win 4-3 at Ridder Arena.
Nicole Schammel's second goal of the game gave the Gophers (11-4-1, 8-3-1 WCHA) a 4-1 lead with 5 minutes, 2 seconds to play and was the eventual winner. That was her team-high ninth goal of the season.
But the game wasn't over. The Huskies, who were shut out for the eighth time this season in the series opener, cut the lead to two, and then one in the final three minutes.
Alyssa Erickson scored for SCSU (2-12, 1-9) with 1:17 left and Laura Kluge with 0:18. The Huskies have lost seven games in a row.
Defenseman Sydney Baldwin put the Gophers ahead 1-0 at 12:55 of the second period. In the first nine minutes of the third, the lead grew to 3-0 on goals by Emily Brown and Schammel's first.
Emma Bigham started the Huskies' rally with a goal at 10:43 of the third. They scored on three of their seven shots in the final period.
Alex Gulstene had 18 saves for the Gophers, Janine Alder 28 for SCSU.
