The University of Minnesota, a team that has struggled desperately since mid-January, rediscovered the winning formula on Friday.

The Gophers kept Colorado College bottled up all night and recorded a 3-0 victory in the opener of their two-game WCHA series at Mariucci Arena.

CC, which managed only 13 shots on goal in the opening 47 minutes of play, missed an opportunity to strengthen its hold on fifth place in the league standings while dropping to 17-11-3 overall and 11-9-3 in conference play. 

Junior forward Patrick White scored with two tenths of a second left in the opening period, giving seventh-place Minnesota a lead that it would never relinquish.

Junior goaltender Alex Kangas, who seldom was tested, posted his first shutout of the season as his teammates had an answer for everything the Tigers threw at them. Kangas finished with 26 saves, half of them in the final 13 minutes with victory well in hand.

Freshman Joe Howe made 32 stops at the other end. He was exceptionally sharp in the first frame, steering away 15 Gopher shots before White's tally at the buzzer.

The Tigers got sloppy deep in their own zone, allowing UM's Nico Sacchetti to dig the puck free and get it to White, who was able to get off a quick shot that beat Howe as time expired. After watching the video replay, referees Don Adam and Timm Walsh ruled it a goal.

Jordan Schroeder and Josh Birkholz added insurance goals in the third period for Minnesota, which improved to 14-15-2 overall and 9-12-2 in the WCHA.