Minnesota State lives up to top ranking with 4-2 win over Gophers, read Friday night's game story.
The Gophers thought they had survived an averaged first period and would take a 1-0 lead into the intermission against No. 1 Minnesota State. Then Bryce Gervais scored his first of two goals for Minnesota State with 34 seconds left in the period and the Gophers would never lead again.
"It was huge. Right after we scored that, I said 'Let's bear down and get through the period,' and unfortunately we weren't able to do that. It was a big momentum swing," Gophers senior forward Travis Boyd said. "You never want to give up a goal late in the period no matter what period it is, so yeah, it was a tough one to give up."
Seth Ambroz scored with 2:06 remaining in the first period and Michael Brodzinski tied the score 2-2 early in the second period, but the Mavericks would answer again.
C.J. Franklin scored less than four minutes later on arguably the Gophers' biggest defensive breakdown of the night to put the Mavericks in front for good.
"I think it was really big. To be able to get in the locker room without being behind [was important], because up until that time I thought we had played pretty well," Mavericks coach Mike Hastings said. "You didn't want to be behind after one [period]."
Get more postgame reaction from the Gophers and Mavericks goaltender Stephon Williams in the below video.
Game 1: Bemidji State 4, Minnesota Duluth 0.
