Minnesota State scored the first two goals of the game, but could not hold on as second-ranked Colorado College rallied for a 4-3 win over the visiting Mavericks at World Arena Saturday.
MSU senior forward Jake Brenk scored off of a rebound to open the scoring just 16 seconds into the game, his third of the season and second of the weekend, and the Mavericks doubled the lead when junior forward Rob Rankin won a faceoff deep in the CC zone. Freshman forward Joel Hanson walked in and beat sophomore Tiger netminder Matt Zaba with a wrist shot between the pads at 4:53 to make it 2-0 MSU.
But the Tigers rallied. Colorado College sophomore defenseman Brian Salcido scored off of a scramble at 15:52 to make it 2-1 at the end of the first period, and junior forward Brett Sterling tallied a power-play marker at 7:17 of the second period to tie the game.
CC gained its first lead with another man-advantage goal at 14:32 when Aaron Slattengren one-timed a shot past MSU senior goaltender Jon Volp after Sterling made a nice pass out of the corner.
The Tigers made the score 4-2 on freshman forward James Brannigan’s second goal of the year at 5:37 of the third period.
Senior forward Adam Gerlach roofed a shot over Zaba’s right shoulder at 14:45 to bring the Mavericks within one, but that was final goal of the game.
The Tigers, who now stand 15-3-0 on the year and are 9-3-0 in WCHA games, outshot the Mavericks by a 35-31 margin and two-for-six in power play opportunities. MSU falls to 7-9-2 overall, 4-9-1 WCHA.
