Two teams atop the standings in their respective conferences played a tightly contested, low-scoring exhibition game on Saturday evening at Sanford Center in Bemidji, Minn.

And as usual, when the Gophers and Bemidji State meet, the much bigger school won. Senior forward Jaxon Nelson's goal with 1 minute, 8 seconds left in the third period gave Minnesota a 2-1 victory.

"The third period we played hard and kind of took the game back," Gophers coach Bob Motzko said. "It was still hard, but finally Nelly got a great pass by Lamber and Nelly pounds it in. It was a successful trip for us all the way around."

The Gophers, in first place in the Big Ten, came into this game 20-2-1 vs. the Beavers, including victories in their previous two meetings in 2017 and 2019. Bemidji State's last victory in this rivalry was 4-2 in the North Star College Cup on Jan. 30, 2016, at Xcel Energy Center.

The Beavers, the CCHA co-leaders, took a 1-0 lead on Eric St. Martin's goal at 11:52 of the opening period. Almost exactly two minutes later, the Gophers tied it on Matthew Knies' power-play goal. Nelson had one of the assists. Brody Lamb had assists on both Minnesota goals.

This was the Gophers' first game in Bemidji since 2013.

Owen Bartoszkiewicz, the backup goalie, made 19 saves for the Gophers. Gavin Enright stopped 22 shots for Bemidji State.