Wilson Björck earned the ending the Tigers have been fighting for. 

In their third overtime game in as many weekends, Colorado College hockey beat visiting No. 4 Minnesota Duluth 2-1 with a score from Björck just 50 seconds into the three-on-three period. 

Sophomore alternate captain and center Owen Beckner gained the zone and passed back to the Swedish freshman who sent a wrist shot from between the right circle and the crease for the game-winner. Björck’s third goal of the season snapped a three-game losing streak for the Tigers (7-6-1, 2-5-1), and earned them the weekend split and their second win in National Collegiate Hockey Conference play. 

“Something I’ve been practicing, just trying to cut it close. I just knew that the goalie liked to be low. … I didn’t think a lot,” Björck said. “We’ve been losing the for the last recent games but you got to learn from it and to be able to win tonight is, of course, a boost of the confidence. I think that if (we) take this the right way, we’re going to be a hard team to beat.”

CC coach Kris Mayotte shook up his lineup in a major way on Saturday putting Björck, junior center Klavs Veinbergs and sophomore right wing Gavin Lindberg on the Tigers’ top line. He also moved the other nine forwards around. For example for the third line, Mayotte moved  junior winger Drew Montgomery to the second, third-line freshman Brayden Schuurman from center to winger and placed freshman center Connor Hvidston, who played fourth line on Friday, into the third. 

“Mixed up the lines a little bit. I thought were phenomenal all night to a man. We had an identity up and down the lineup and I thought we handled adversity probably better tonight than we have in a little while,” Mayotte said. 

That adversity came in the second period, following a scoreless first. 

Tigers’ freshman defenseman Matteo Mann nearly scored on Duluth goaltender Adam Gajan but it was ruled no goal after a review. Instead, Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin challenged for a major penalty on a hit Mann had delivered earlier in the play. Sandelin’s challenge was successful and Mann was given a five-minute major and was removed from the game on a misconduct penalty for contact to the head. 

The situation put CC’s penalty kill unit, which ranks second worst in the conference at .733, against the NCHC’s second-best power play in Duluth (12-4, 5-3) at .286. The Tigers were up to the task and battled for over two minutes before UMD’s Blake Bechen was sent to the box for goalie interference. CC dominated the 4-on-4 that ensued and even the brief remainder of Mann’s major penalty that resumed after Bechen’s penalty expired, but the Tigers were called for another penalty shortly after the kill, and Bulldogs’ right wing Scout Truman scored the extra-attacker goal off the delayed penalty at 11:22 of the second period. 

“They score when we feel like we’re playing alright. Going into the third down a goal, and I liked our conviction and how we played,” Mayotte said. “I thought when Mann went down and we got down to five (defensemen) I thought our forwards really understood the job.”

The CC coach praised his forwards for the turnovers they were able to create throughout the game but especially in the third period. The biggest turnover of the frame came at the 2:54 mark when Lindberg intercepted a bad pass from Bulldogs center Zam Plante in UMD’s defensive zone and fired a shot from the right circle and past Gajan for the equalizer. 

The goal was the second great individual score for the sophomore on the weekend. It was his sixth score of the season, tying for the team lead alongside Veinbergs and Beckner. 

“He’s so consistent and he’s starting to find his confidence with his shot. And he had some other looks too tonight and last night where he could have probably had a few,” Mayotte said. “As he continues to see those go in, that’s going to snowball and turn into a lot of confidence and I think he’s just going to continue to take those steps and be a guy we can rely on in really any situation.”

Tigers senior goaltender Kaidan Mbereko finished with 29 saves as CC outshot UMD 40-30. The Tigers remain at home over the holiday weekend next week, hosting No. 16 Providence.