Box Score The Xcel Energy Center has been the site of some historic University of Minnesota Duluth championship conquests. In April 2011, the Bulldogs skated off with their first NCAA national title at the downtown St. Paul facility and, two years earlier, became the play-in game team to ever win the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five playoff crown.

On Saturday, UMD was looking to add to that distinctive list when it took on the University of Minnesota for the  inaugural North Star College Cup championship. After ending overtime deadlocked at 4-4, the two long-time intrastate rivals had to settle matters with a shootout where the No. 1 Gophers who wound up prevailing, 2-0, to clinch the title trophy.

"It's really too bad something like this had to be decided by a shootout. I wish we could have just kept playing overtimes" said UMD junior center Caleb Herbert, who scored once and then assisted on second goal 19 seconds later midway through the first period that gave the Bulldogs their only lead of the night (2-1)  "But all in all, it was a cool tournament and we look forward to coming down here again next year."

Herbert's line mate, sophomore left winger Austin Farley, had a pair of goals -- a one-timer off a feed from Herbert at 11:26 of the first period and a wrister that beat Minnesota goaltender Alex Kangas on the stick side 2:24 into the third period. The Bulldogs (10-9-3 overall) trailed 4-3 with 2:09 to go in regulation before senior right winger and team captain Joe Basaraba found the back of the net with a blistering shot from the top of the left faceoff circle. Minnesota scored three of its four goals on the power play (in seven opportunities) while UMD, which was playing in its fourth straight overtime game, was 1-of-6 with the man advantage.

The Bulldogs, who attempted a season-high 76 shots in the tie, have lost just once in their last seven outings (4-1-2) and are 1-1-1 this season against the 18-2-4 Gophers.

"I thought it was a heck of a hockey game," said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin, whose Bulldogs outshot Minnesota 42-27 (nine shots below the Gophers nation-leading average). "It's always tough to loose in a shootout, but I'm proud of our team. We played well from the start and hopefully we can build off this when we get back to NCHC play next weekend at Western Michigan."