Minneapolis, Minn. --- Minnesota State held the lead twice, but eventually skated to a 3-2 loss against second-rated Minnesota in a men’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association game played in Minneapolis Friday night.

The Mavericks struck first when sophomore defenseman Zach Palmquist tapped in a feed from sophomore forward Jean-Paul Lafontaine at 4:50 of the opening period.  The Golden Gopher responded with a power play marker of their own on a goal by Travis Boyd at 10:31.

MSU regained the lead at 9:33 of the second period.  Junior Zach Lehrke’s pass from the side was touched twice by sophomore forward Max Gaede before freshman forward Teddy Blueger rebound attempt found its way past Gopher netminder Adam Wilcox.  Minnesota responded in kind with another power play goal, this time at 15:07 on a blast from the point by defenseman Nate Schmidt that got past a maze in front of MSU senior goaltender Phil Cook.

Minnesota took the lead in the third period at 5:40 on a power play goal scored by Zach Budish, who slipped the puck past Cook off a rebound in front of the net.

Minnesota State, now 2-3-2 overall and 0-3-0 in WCHA games on the season, was  outshot by Minnesota 32-25 in the game. The Mavericks finished one-for-three on the power play, while Minnesota was three-for-six with the man advantage. Cook finished the game with 29 saves on the night and the game was played in front of 9,989 fans at Mariucci Arena.

MSU and Minnesota will close out the two-game series Saturday night with a 7:07 p.m. face-off at Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato.

Minnesota State head coach Mike Hastings commented following the game.