With the stage set for another Friday-night letdown, Mike Testwuide and Richard Bachman picked Colorado College up.

Testwuide backhanded home the game-winning goal with 3:04 left in regulation and Bachman made a pair of spectacular saves in the final minute, lifting the Tigers to a heart-stopping 4-3 victory over the University of Minnesota in the opener of their two-game series at the World Arena.

It was just the second time in 15 opportunities since October that CC has prevailed in the first game of a weekend. And despite a glittering night by senior right wing Eric Walsky, whose 11th tally of the season sandwiched between a pair of beautiful assists produced a 3-1 lead by early in the third period, this one could have slipped away, too.

After Walsky set up Chad Rau to give the Tigers their second two-goal advantage of the contest just 1:45 into the final frame, Minnesota was able to pull even on red lighters by Mike Hoeffel at 7:15 and Ryan Flynn at 11:38.

But, with a little more than four minutes remaining, senior defenseman Jake Gannon sent the puck toward the UM net. It glanced off the skate of Andreas Vlassopoulos in the right faceoff circle, and found its way through traffic to Testwuide cutting across the slot in front of net minder Alex Kangas. The junior right winger made no mistake, beating Kangas cleanly on the stick side to put CC back on top for good.

With Kangas on the bench in favor of an extra attacker and the clock ticking down, Bachman first robbed Ryan Stoa with a sprawling glove save then frustrated Tony Lucia with his left leg pad, both from point-blank range, to preserve the victory. Bachman finished with 24 stops for the night, while Kangas had 31.

Junior defenseman Nate Prosser also had a goal and an assist for Colorado College. Lucia matched the feat for the Gophers. 

Colorado College, 15-9-8 overall and 11-8-5 in the WCHA, extended its undefeated streak to four games (2-0-2) and moved back into fourth place all alone in the league standings heading into Saturday's rematch. Minnesota, which dropped into seventh place with the loss, is 13-10-6 overall and 10-9-4 in league play.