St. Cloud State rallies for OT hockey victory over Gophers

In a hockey game featuring 11 goals and where coaches brought up mistakes on both sides, it's safe to say Don Lucia's players will be thinking about the ones they made a little more in the latest version of a Gophers third-period collapse.

St. Cloud State made the Gophers pay massively in the early season and sent both them and the remains of a Mariucci Arena crowd home stunned. Up three with 11 minutes left in regulation, the Gophers' lead disappeared with 1 minute, 13 seconds to go when Huskies junior Judd Peterson completed a hat trick.

Freshman Jake Wahlin did one better, scoring on the power play with 2:07 remaining in overtime for a 6-5 Huskies victory.

"I liked a lot of our game. I didn't like the end of our game," Lucia said. "All of a sudden we got on our heels, and we couldn't get the momentum back."

The Gophers (2-1) jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Vinni Lettieri and Tyler Sheehy. The lead went to 4-1 after Leon Bristedt and Mike Szmatula scored on the power play in the second period.

But the Huskies (1-2) took advantage of their opportunities to get back in the game. Peterson scored off a Gophers giveaway behind the net to make it 4-2 late in the second period.

"I liked how our team played," said Huskies coach Bob Motzko, acknowledging his team needs to cut down on giving up goals. "When we were down 5-2 I liked how our team played."

Tommy Novak scored 2:34 into the third period to chase Huskies goaltender Jeff Smith. Zach Driscoll came in relief and only faced two shots while his teammates scored four goals.

First it was Jacob Benson, scoring at 10:23 of the third. Mikey Eyssimont made it 5-4 less than four minutes later, scoring 25 seconds into a power play.

And with Driscoll pulled, Peterson found his way to the front of the net, one-timing a Blake Winiecki pass past Gophers goalie Eric Schierhorn.

"[We were] not moving our feet and quit playing hard," an upset Gophers captain Justin Kloos said.

In OT, with Ryan Collins in the box for interference, St. Cloud State had the opportunity win on its sixth power play. Wahlin, who played at White Bear Lake, made the most of it.

The loss in the Gophers' home opener is the latest in a pattern dating back to last season. The Gophers went 1-7 vs. in-state schools in 2015-16 and were unable to hold third-period home leads against Minnesota State Mankato, St. Cloud State and Harvard.

"What happens before is irrelevant to what happens today. It's early in the season and this is the best team we've played," Lucia said. "I don't know if our guys' thought process was, when it was 5-2, to try to get more rather than playing the game the right way.

"We're in Game 3 in the season and there's a whole host of things that we can show them with video. You tell them the play to make, but sometimes they get a little careless."