In getting a win and a tie on the weekend against one of its fiercest rivals, the Spartans were awarded the Bessone-Mariucci trophy following the contest. The trophy is awarded to the winner of the MSU-Minnesota series and is named after legendary hockey coaches John Mariucci of Minnesota and Amo Bessone of MSU.

“It was definitely one of the most fun hockey games I’ve ever played in,” junior defenseman Torey Krug said. “We were ready for them, for that team. They’re a very, very skilled team and they’re going to be there in the end so it was a good weekend for us and unfortunately, we didn’t get the result we wanted in the end but it was a promising weekend.”

In a similar fashion to Friday’s game, the Spartans (8-5-1, 4-4-0 CCHA) drew first blood against Minnesota on Saturday. Senior defenseman Brock Shelgren took a redirected pass from senior forward Mike Merrifield and put it by Minnesota goalie Kent Patterson before being hauled down to the ice at 11:49 to give MSU the early 1-0 lead.

But after rallying from being down two goals on Friday, Minnesota was able to secure the equalizer at 4:39 in the second period. Ben Marshall sent a rocket of a shot over the left shoulder of senior goalie Drew Palmisano to knot the game, 1-1.

Six minutes later, the Spartans would regain the lead, courtesy of Merrifield. Merrifield collected a shot from sophomore forward Greg Wolfe and beat Patterson with a backhand shot on his glove side to give MSU the 2-1 advantage. Later in the period, senior defenseman Matt Crandell blasted a puck from just inside the blue line to beat Patterson and extend the Spartan lead to 3-1.

With 4:20 to play in the second period, Eric Paula took a sharp angle to the net off a Nick Bjugstad rebounded shot and get it past Palmisano to head into the dressing rooms down by just a goal.

However, the Spartan lead wouldn’t be safe in the third period with Minnesota coming out on the attack. The Golden Gophers tied the game at 4:28 when Zach Budish found the back of the net to bring the game even. Minutes later, Minnesota would take their only lead of the game on a five-hole goal past Palmisano by freshman forward Kyle Rau.

Minnesota’s lead would last just 1:44 as Daultan Leveille brought the arena to its feet on a brilliant individual effort to the net. Leveille carried a pass from freshman forward Brett Darnell into the neutral zone and shed a defender with a deke move and beat Patterson to bring the game to a 4-4 tie and force overtime.

Anastos said he was pleased with his team’s ability to compete and the use of the team’s strong conditioning to their advantage against Minnesota in both games this weekend.

“I’m not comparing it to our opponents but we think we have a very strong conditioning level so we spent our time pumping our guys up and reminding them how well-conditioned they are,” head coach Tom Anastos said. “It becomes more of a mental game at a certain point but we’re very pleased with the conditioning level with the guys.”

The Spartans would get some good looks from Leveille and others in the extra frame but neither team could break the tie with their chances in overtime.

In overtime, Palmisano made four critical saves to allow the Spartans to walk away with a tie against the No. 3 team in the country. After not playing for nearly a month in favor of sophomore goalie Will Yanakeff, Palmisano made 35 saves Saturday to follow up his 40 save performance in the winning effort on Friday.

“It’s hard when you don’t play for four weeks,” Palmisano said. “But you just gotta stay confident in yourself and surround yourself with supporting people like family and friends and teammates and know they have confidence in me to go out when my number is called and get the job done.”

After facing then No. 5 Western Michigan, then No. 20 Northern Michigan and Minnesota in their past three series, the Spartans have had a chance to test themselves early in the season. The team will return to CCHA action next weekend as they open up a two-game series against Bowling Green at Munn Ice Arena.