According to Joe Howe, there's no such thing as a "good" tie.

This one may have been the rare exception for Colorado College.

The Tigers, who found themselves down by four goals halfway through Friday's non-conference battle with the No. 3-ranked University of New Hampshire, roared back to forge a 4-4 deadlock to the delight of 6,794 onlookers at the World Arena.

Howe, who spelled starter Josh Thorimbert in the CC nets after UNH's fourth tally, was instrumental in the comeback, stopping all 27 shots he faced the rest of the way, including three big ones in overtime.

Senior forwards Rylan Schwartz and William Rapuzzi struck just 97 seconds apart late in the third period to wipe out a 4-2 deficit and force the extra session. They also assisted on each others red lighters.  Click here for a video interview with Schwartz.
   
It was the third consecutive outing in which Colorado College found itself in the dubious position of trailing by four, thanks in no small measure to the efforts of Casey Thrush, a sophomore winger who scored his first two goals of the season for the visitors from Hockey East. Thrush converted on a rebound just 1:58 into the affair, then put the Wildcats up 3-0 at 2:01 of the second frame.

In between, while New Hampshire goaltender Casey deSmith may have been entertaining thoughts of his fifth shutout of the season, sophomore defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk also beat Thorimbert from the right faceoff circle midway through the first period.   

But, once fourth-line center Scott Pavelski completed a nice passing play from linemates Dan Correale and Collin MacDonald to make it 4-0 at 10:02 of the middle stanza, the Tigers decided they'd seen enough and started chiseling away.

Schwartz, who finished with three points, set up sophomore defenseman Ian Young's first career goal with 6:49 left in the period to get CC on the scoreboard. Freshman center Cody Bradley, back in the lineup after missing six games with an injury, then set up senior blue-line specialist Mike Boivin's sixth in the last seven outings four minutes later, and the home team could feel the pendulum starting to swing in a more favorable direction.

But deSmith, who had not given up more than three goals in a game while playing every minute for New Hampshire to date in 2012-13, held his ground until Schwartz whipped a loose puck past him from in close with 3:32 remaining in regulation. Rapuzzi pounced on Schwartz's rebound off the back boards with 1:55 showing on the clock, sending the game into overtime, where Howe made the only three saves with point-blank stops on UNH's Dalton Speelman, Kevin Goumas and John Henrion.

The 14th-ranked Tigers, now 7-5-1 for the season, play host to Yale University at 7:07 p.m. Saturday to wrap up the non-league portion of their 2012-13 regular-season schedule. New Hampshire, 8-1-2, heads north to take on No. 2 University of Denver, which suffered a 2-1 sudden-death loss to Yale on Friday.