The Minnesota Golden Gophers and St. Thomas Tommies played a back-and-forth thriller at the Xcel Energy Center on Friday night but it was Jimmy Snuggerud's overtime winner that helped the Gophers escape with a 6-5 victory.
Snuggerud took matters into his own hands with 3:45 left in overtime when he started from his own end of the ice. Taking advantage of the 3-on-3 rules in the extra period, Snuggerud weaved his way around the St. Thomas defense and delivered a wrister over the shoulder of Tommies goaltender Aaron Trotter for the game-winner.
Snuggerud's goal capped off a wild night at the X that began when the Gophers took a 2-0 lead on goals by Aaron Huglen and Jaxon Nelson in the first period. St. Thomas rallied to take the lead in the second period as Mack Byers, Liam Malmquist and Luke Manning gave the Tommies a 3-2 lead going into the second intermission.
Snuggerud scored his first goal of the game after Lucas Wahlin scored 27 seconds into the third period to gave the Tommies a 4-2 lead and Brody Lamb scored a pair of goals to give the Gophers a 5-4 lead at 6:05 of the third period.
UST's Lucas Wahlin scored at 13:14 of the third period to tie the game at 5-5, setting the stage for Snuggerud to become the hero in overtime.
Justin Close stopped 31 of 36 shots to earn the win for the Gophers while Trotter stopped 31 of 37 shots in the loss for St. Thomas.
The Gophers and Tommies will face off again at 3M Arena at Mariucci at 6 p.m. on Saturday night.
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