Tigers earn victory to dye for

Colorado College junior forward Mike Testwuide dyed his hair bright yellow this week. After Friday night's heroics, Testwuide might never go back to his natural color.

Testwuide's goal with just more than 3 minutes left was the difference in a 4-3 victory against No. 14 Minnesota at World Arena. The goal came after the Gophers had overcome a 3-1 deficit in the third period to tie the score.

CC is 15-9-8 overall and 11-8-5 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Minnesota is 13-10-6 and 10-9-4.

Testwuide and a handful of his teammates made the decision to dye their hair to "get something going."

"Just changing things up," said Testwuide, who has two goals this season. "It turned out pretty good."

Testwuide scored the game-winner, but goaltender Richard Bachman secured the victory with an incredible finishing stretch after the Gophers pulled their goalie. With about 1:15 left, after the puck popped in the air on a save, Bachman was able to bat it down with traffic in front of him.

A little later, Gophers leading scorer Ryan Stoa had a clear shot, but Bachman made an emphatic glove save. He wasn't done. With only a few seconds left, Minnesota forward Tony Lucia was all alone in front of Bachman, and Bachman turned his shot aside.

"When the game was on the line, he made two or three big-time, grade ‘A' saves," coach Scott Owens said.

Bachman said he had a tough time picking a favorite between the glove save on Stoa and his final save on Lucia, but he felt he owed his teammates after giving up two third-period goals.

"I kind of felt like I needed to make up for one of two of the early ones," Bachman said. "I just felt focused."

The Tigers got a break early. Minnesota center Jordan Schroeder, who is tied for the team lead in points, picked up a major penalty for checking from behind 4:42 into the game. He was ejected with a game misconduct.

The Tigers didn't score on the ensuing 5-minute power play, but defenseman Nate Prosser scored on a pass from Eric Walsky for a 1-0 lead. Walsky scored in the second period and Chad Rau scored early in the third to give CC a 3-1 lead.

But the Gophers came back. After Mike Hoeffel scored on a power play, Ryan Flynn squeezed a rebound between Bachman's legs for the game-tying goal.

The Tigers didn't fold, however, and Testwuide converted a great chance off a rebound.

"Nobody was there, it was hard to miss," Testwuide said. "It was a great feeling to score that goal."

NOTES

Back in the lineup

Colorado College got three players back for Friday's game against Minnesota. Center Andreas Vlassopoulos and defenseman Kris Fredheim returned from knee injuries that had sidelined them since mid-January. Vlassopoulos centered the fourth line and Fredheim was paired on defense with Gabe Guentzel.

Freshman forward Tim Hall, who had been out since December because of mononucleosis, returned and was the left wing on the fourth line.

Seniors to be honored

CC will honor its senior class before tonight's game - the last in the regular season at World Arena.

The Tigers aren't guaranteed to host a first-round series in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs. The top five teams in the WCHA host series.

CC's seniors are Cody Lampl, Chad Rau, Eric Walsky, Scott McCulloch, Jake Gannon and goaltender Drew O'Connell.

About 400 tickets remain for the game.

Third-period woes

In four of CC's past seven games, including Sunday's exhibition loss to the U.S. Under-18 national team, the Tigers have had a lead in the third period but either lost or tied.

CC has been outscored 27-22 in the third period but has outscored its opponents in the first and second periods. The late-game problems are frustrating for CC and difficult to explain.

"Not enough killer instinct in there to get it done," coach Scott Owens said. "It's one of the things we talk about."