The Gophers men’s hockey team resumed its regular season after nearly a month off Sunday, but the team’s defense might have forgotten that it’s no longer winter break.

In their first competitive match since Dec. 9, the 10th-ranked Gophers fell to Colorado College 6-4 in the opener of a two-game series against the 20th-ranked Tigers at 3M Arena at Mariucci. The Gophers outshot CC 69-52, including 37-29 on goal, but a turnover-laden offense and a power play that went 0-fo-3 doomed the Gophers to an early-January defeat.

Following a scoreless first period, both teams ramped up the action in the second, and a tripping call 95 seconds into the period led to a Gophers power play. The Gophers didn’t let it go to waste, and following two near-goals, sophomore forward Jimmy Snuggerud got his team on the board shortly after the advantage expired. Snuggerud, who had just returned from the world junior tournament in Sweden on Saturday, picked up right where he left off before his gold medal run by adding his team-leading 12th goal of the season.

The Tigers answered quickly, as a failed attempt to clear the puck from near the net turned into an easy tying goal from Bret Link. Colorado College scoring leader Gleb Veremyev followed that up with a missile from the right wing that Gophers goalie Justen Close couldn’t react quickly enough to, giving the visitors their first lead of the game. After a tripping call late in the period put the Tigers on a power play, senior Tyler Coffey scored from a similar spot, giving CC (10-6-1) a 3-1 lead.

The Gophers (9-6-4) kept their offensive barrage going in an attempt to cut into the Tigers’ lead. Seven minutes into the third, they finally answered, as a backward pass from Carl Fish found Luke Mittelstadt, who scored his first goal of the year.

The Tigers refused to let the Gophers back in, though, as Link reestablished a two-goal lead with his second goal of the game. Snuggerud responded with his second goal while moving to his left only 37 seconds later, cutting the deficit back to one.

Tigers wing Zaccharya Wisdom scored what appeared to be the dagger goal with 2:34 to go, but just 17 seconds later, sophomore Brody Lamb answered to keep Minnesota at a single-goal deficit. It came to no avail, as Colorado College added an empty-netter with eight seconds remaining.