Gophers escape Michigan State with tie

Barry Tallackson's goal in the final minutes of the third period brought Minnesota to a 4-4 tie with Michigan State Sunday, and kept the top-ranked Gophers undefeated.

The game capped a weekend of mostly non-conference action for WCHA teams. In the lone conference matchup, Colorado College swept Alaska-Anchorage 7-1 and 4-2.

In other action for WCHA teams this weekend, Michigan Tech split with Wayne State 2-4, 4-3; Northern Michigan swept Minnesota-Duluth 3-2, 5-4; and Denver beat Vermont 4-1 and lost to New Hampshire 5-2 at the New Hampshire Thanksgiving Tournament.

And at the College Hockey Showcase in Michigan, Wisconsin lost to Michigan State 2-1 and to Michigan 5-3. At the same event on Friday, Minnesota beat Michigan 5-2.

In the final game of that event, Michigan State scored twice in the third period to break Minnesota's 3-2 lead. Adam Hall scored on the power play at 1:14 and Brian Maloney scored nearly six minutes later to give the Spartans a 4-3 lead.

Tallackson got an assist from John Pohl for the final tying goal. Adam Hauser stopped 20 shots for Minnesota. Ryan Miller had 34 saves for Michigan State.

Minnesota is now 11-0-2 and will face third-ranked St. Cloud State on Friday and Saturday. Michigan State fell to 9-2-2.

Second-ranked Denver suffered its first loss at the New Hampshire Thanksgiving Tournament.

Wade Dubieliewicz had 31 saves as the Pioneers beat Vermont on Saturday. But New Hampshire scored three times in the third period to beat Denver Sunday night.

New Hampshire led 2-1 after two periods. The teams' offenses took over in the third period, with four goals including three in a span of 47 seconds.

New Hampshire's Darren Haydar began the flurry when he notched his seventh of the year at 5:59. Denver answered at 6:20 when Lukas Dora hit. But the Wildcats regained a two-goal advantage at 6:46 when Ed Caron shook off a Pioneer defender and scored.

Denver is now 9-1 and will visit Minnesota-Duluth this upcoming weekend.

Colorado College defenseman Tom Preissing scored the game-winning goal and added three-assists as the Tigers beat Alaska-Anchorage 4-2 Saturday night.

The shot came on a Colorado College power-play 6:27 into the final period. Jason Jozsa closed out the scoring with a goal at 10:52. Jeff Sanger saved 19 for Colorado College while Chris King saved 35 for Anchorage.

Colorado College is now 7-5 overall and 3-5 in the WCHA. Alaska-Anchorage fell to 2-8-2 overall, 1-6-1 in the WCHA.

Mike Stutzel's power-play goal at 12:42 of the third gave Northern Michigan a 5-4 victory over Minnesota-Duluth Saturday night. Stutzel also scored the Wildcats first goal.

Chris Gobert's goal in the second period on Friday gave Northern Michigan a 3-2 victory over the Bullogs.