The game is officially considered a tie with a shootout victory in the Big Ten, but the Spartans were treating the game as a full blown victory.

“This was really important for us to get a win like this when everybody is doing great teamwork, a lot of energy (and) skating really hard every shift,” said freshman forward Villiam Haag, who finished the night with a goal and assist. “We knew before the season that we were a team that can count on this (type of effort) but now we can get it on the paper that we are a good team and can compete with the best team in the league.”

Minnesota found the back of the net first on Friday night, scoring with 1:24 remaining in the 1st period. Golden Gopher freshman forward Taylor Cammarata netted the goal with assists from freshman defenseman Jake Bischoff and freshman forward Justin Kloos.

While MSU was trailing entering the first intermission, head coach Tom Anastos felt good about the team’s up-tempo efforts in the 1st period.

“We felt pretty good after the 1st period other than giving up that late goal,” Anastos said. “Yet giving up that late goal, I thought we still responded pretty well. I liked our demeanor in the dressing room during the intermission and then we played a pretty good 2nd period.”

MSU quickly tied the game at 1-1 only 1:02 into the 2nd period when freshman forward Mackenzie MacEachern slipped a backhand shot past the Gopher goaltender on an odd man rush. The goal extended MacEachern’s point streak to four games.

Anastos felt the team got a huge momentum boost late in the 2nd period after killing off a Minnesota power play that held the puck in the Spartan zone for the entire penalty and rallied off four shots.

“That’s kind of a momentum shift a little bit that it jacks the other guys up, exhausted the guys who were part of it but it jacked the other guys up,” Anastos said.

However, Minnesota would take advantage of a too many men on the ice Spartan penalty that rolled over into the 3rd period, scoring off a redirected from Kloos that hit senior defenseman Jake Chelios.

MSU, however, would once again rally to tie the game using a little bit of luck through a redirected goal by Haag. Senior forward Greg Wolfe passed the puck to senior forward Lee Reimer who then fired what looked to be a pass that bounced off Haag, sliding between the goalie’s legs to tie the game with 14:04 left in the game.

From there, the game would be decided in the shootout after a scoreless overtime, with Ferrantino and Hildebrand coming up in the shootout.

Hildebrand, who finished the game with 44 saves, was pleased with the Spartan’s efforts and believes Friday’s game will only help improve the young team’s confidence.

“It’s huge for our team. … Coach just talks about getting better and better and I think thats what were doing,” Hildebrand said. “It’s great for us to move forward.”

MSU will look for the sweep of the top-ranked Golden Gophers on Saturday afternoon at Munn Ice Arena. The second leg of the series will begin at 4 p.m.