Sixty minutes of regulation and another five minutes of overtime was not enough to determine the 2017 Ledyard Classic champion so the two clubs that officially battled to a 2-2 draw in the title bout -- the University of Minnesota Duluth and host Dartmouth College -- went to a shootout. The No. 17 Bulldogs scored on their first two attempts by junior center Peter Krieger and freshman left winger Kobe Roth to prevail 2-1 and exit Thompson Arena with their second regular season tournament title in the past two seasons. And, they did so without having enough players to fill their entire lineup card as five Bulldogs are currently competing for the U.S. at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior championship and another, senior defensemen Nick McCormack was serving a game disqualification penalty he was assessed in Friday's 5-0 victory over Yale University. That left the Bulldogs with just 17 skaters (one fewer than allowed) and a only four defensemen.

Sophomore goaltender Hunter Shepard was named the Ledyard Classic's Most Valuable Player after racking up a career-high 41 saves and stopping 70 of 72 shots on the weekend. Shepard, whose 41 stops were the most by a Bulldog in nearly two season (Kasimir Kaskisuo with 49 saves in a 4-1 win at St. Cloud State on Feb. 26, 2016) was joined on the six-member All-Tournament Team by Krieger and UMD senior left winger Blake Young.

The evening started in auspicious fashion for the Bulldogs (9-9-23 overall) as the Big Green (4-9-1) of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference took a quick 1-0 lead with a goal just 24 seconds in. With 28 seconds to go in the first period, junior right winger Billy Exell got UMD on the board by rapping in a loose puck for his first tally of the year. Krieger put the Bulldogs up 2-1 at 6:49 of the second period when he backhanded a rebound past Dartmouth goalie Devin Buffalo (who finished with 39 saves) to extend his scoring streak to four games, but the Big Green answered three minutes later in what would be the final goal of the evening.

UMD, which scored three times with the man advantage in Friday's takedown of Yale, did not get a single power play opportunity against Dartmouth while the Big Green went 0-for-2.

Oddly enough, the last time UMD and Dartmouth had met prior to tonight was exactly 22 years ago -- Dec. 30, 1995 when the Bulldogs skated away with a 3-2 triumph and the Sheraton/USAir Classic championship trophy in Burlington, Vermont.

The Bulldogs, who are now unbeaten in their last 17 overtime games (7-0-10), will be off next weekend before returning to the ice on Jan. 12-13, 2018 for a two-game National Collegiate Hockey Conference series at Colorado College.