MINOT, N.D. – It's a big weekend on the ice for the Beavers women's hockey team which returns to action as Minot State hosts visitors from "The State of Hockey" as the University of Minnesota is in town Saturday and Sunday for Women's Midwest College Hockey games.

While big contest as the two games count in the WMCH standings, even bigger action as Minot State hits the ice for the first time since Halloween weekend when it scored a weekend sweep of NCAA Division III foe Concordia College.

Puck drops Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Pepsi Rink at the Masya Arena, and the series concludes with face-off at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

"We are excited to get back to ACHA league play hosting a familiar WMCH opponent who we haven't seen since the 2019-2020 season," Beavers' head coach Ryan Miner said. "Coming off a big weekend against NCAA Concordia, we plan to bring that same energy into the weekend and get back to playing our style of hockey."

The wins against the Cobbers provided a memorable milestone for Miner, as well, as Saturday's 3-2 victory was No. 100 of his career. Now, Minot State (7-2-0 overall, 2-1 WMCH) looks to start the next 100 wins Saturday and Sunday when the Golden Gophers (2-0-0) visit the Maysa Arena.

The Gophers, who haven't played since early October when they beat Minnesota Duluth, 3-1 and 5-0, are led by Hannah Vitelli, Molly Merthan, and Ruby Moss, each of whom have scored two goals apiece. Bridget McGuire and Emily Rubins have the other two goals for Minnesota.

In goal, Katelyn Sampson has played all 120 minutes for the Gophers and has a shutout to go along with an incredible .967 save percentage.

But that sampling is only for two games against one foe, so the Beavers will worry less about Minnesota and more about fine-tuning and playing Minot State hockey.

"Minnesota has played limited games this season so the focus will be playing to our strengths and controlling the tempo of the game," Miner said. "We have to make sure we take care of our end first and build off of that to produce some offensive opportunities and put the puck in the back of the net."

Leading the way from the back forward are the Beaver goalies as each of the trio of netminders have a shutout on the season.

Expect Haylie Biever and Jordan Ivanco to lead the way in net this weekend as both have started three games and have identical 2-1-0 records. Biever has a 1.34 goals against average with a .941 save percentage, and Ivanco has a 1.68 GAA and a .914 save percentage.

In front of them comes plenty of balance as 13 difference players have scored at least one goal for Minot State, including four players with three goals apiece: Megan Norris, Ensley Fendelet, Story Navrot, and Riley Ball.

Norris also has four assists, which leads the team.