A LOOK AT THE WEEK: Minot State will host Dickinson State at the MSU Dome on Thursday, February 9. The non-conference dual is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

RECORDS: The Beavers are 3-14, 0-6 NSIC after suffering a road loss to No. 1 St. Cloud State. Minot State is currently on a four-dual losing streak after winning its last match against LIU Post on January 1. Dickinson State is 2-3 in duals this season and are coming off a win against Northern State. The Blue Hawks will visit Jamestown on February 7 before coming to Minot.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State head coach Evan Forde is in his second season at the helm of the wrestling team. He is the eighth coach in MSU history and the second coach since the reinstatement of the team and the move to NCAA Division II. Forde is 7-26 in his career. Justin Schlecht is in his second season as the head coach of the Dickinson State wrestling team. Schlecht was an assistant at DSU for four years prior to being named the head coach. Last season he coached four wrestlers to earn All-American honors as his team finished eighth in the NAIA. Schlecht is a former Blue Hawk himself and earned three national titles as a wrestler from 2002-2008 (his time at Dickinson State was broken up by an 18-month tour of duty in Iraq).

RANKINGS: Dickinson received votes in the January 18 NAIA Wrestling Coaches' Top 20 poll, but did not make it into the top 20. Minot State did not receive any votes in the February 1 D2wrestle.com rankings.

ALL-TIME AT A GLANCE: Minot State has yet to defeat Dickinson State since moving to Division II in 2011. The Blue Hawks and Beavers have been wrestling since the 2011-12 season and DSU holds a 2-0 record against MSU.

LAST TIME OUT: Last season, Dickinson State defeated Minot State 29-22 after receiving 12 points from matches forfeited by the Beavers. Tanner Crissler (141), Cody Haugen (149) and Mitchell Eull (HWT) won three of the five matches for MSU last season. Haugen will return on Thursday to try and make his record against Dickinson State 2-0.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: When Minot State hosts Dickinson State on Thursday it will be just the second time in head coach Evan Forde's time that the Beavers have hosted a non-NSIC opponent. Currently, the Beavers are 1-0 at home when wrestling against non-NSIC members and 2-0 when wrestling non-NSIC matches. MSU defeated Jamestown last season at home 33-14 after winning a non-conference dual against Mary 18-16.  

NOTING THE BLUE HAWKS: Dickinson State is returning to dual competition this week after wrestling at the Dave Edmonds Morningside Open last week. At the tournament, two Blue Hawks earned third-place finishes. Seth Ehlang, 149, and Ethan Goss-Dickie, HWT, each earned a bronze finish at the dual in Sioux City, Iowa. Both Ehlang and Goss-Dickie won two matches by fall in the tournament. Before this open, Dickinson State hosted fellow NSIC school Northern State and earned a 24-20 victory. DSU won four of the nine matches competed in by both teams and earned a forfeit as well to reach 24 points and come out on top.

LAST WEEK: The Beavers had a tough go against No. 1 St. Cloud State losing 42-3 in St. Cloud, Minn. Despite the Huskies moving to 5-0 against the Beavers in Division II competitions, Minot State made history on Friday. Michael Rangel (125) won his match by an 8-1 decision, the largest margin of victory by a wrestler from MSU over SCSU. It was just the second individual match the Beavers had won against the Huskies since joining the NSIC. The three points earned by Rangel also resulted in the most points scored against SCSU as they only ended with two in their 2015 meeting after losing a point due to misconduct.

COLD IN FEBRUARY: Minot State has not seen much success on the mat in the shortest month of the year. Since joining the Division II rankings in 2011 the Beavers have recorded a 2-17 record in February duals. Currently, MSU has not won in February since the 2013-14 season when the Beavers finished with back-to-back wins against Mary and Northern State. Those were the first and only victories so far for Minot State in February. Dating back to the 2014-15 season, the Beavers are on a 10-dual losing streak in the month.

BY THE NUMBERS

1: Time Minot State has forfeited a match this season. On January 29, the Beavers forfeited the 157-pound match to Augustana.  

5: Matches won by the Beavers in competed weight classes against Dickinson State last season. The Blue Hawks won just three matches, but won the dual with points awarded due to forfeits.

10: Combined points Dickinson State has won by in its two matches against Minot State. Last season the Blue Hawks won by six points (29-22). In the 2011-2012 season DSU won by four (25-21).