MINOT, N.D. – Never take any opponent lightly.

That's the mantra this weekend for the Minot State women's hockey team as the third-ranked Beavers head to Minnesota for two more conference games against the University of Minnesota, a team that Minot State toppled 8-0 and 9-1 last month at the Maysa Arena.

But while the Beavers might have dominated on the scoreboard in those previous two victories, head coach Ryan Miner is not letting his team think about what happened in the past.

"Even though we have already seen Minnesota, we will prepare like we do for every game knowing that our opponent will give us their best effort every game," he said. "In addition, being on the road this weekend is a different atmosphere than playing at the Maysa so we need to be mentally focused to battle for two road wins."

In the teams' previous meeting, the Beavers (10-3-0 overall, 4-1-0 WMCH) got offense from almost everyone as 12 different players scored in the two-game Women's Midwest Collegiate Hockey series. Leading the way were Riley Ball and Jessica Walker, who each scored three goals in the two games, and Makena Welby, who netted two goals over the weekend.

In goal, Jordan Ivanco made six saves for her second shutout of the season for the Beavers, while Haylie Biever made 14 saves in the other Minot State victory.

The Beavers will look to keep the pressure off Ivanco and Biever in goal, and keep the balanced offense rolling, but certainly will face a new challenge as Minnesota (2-4-0) will look to regular starting goalie Katelyn Sampson, in net. Sampson, who did not play in the previous meetings in North Dakota, has a 2-2-0 record and a 3.00 goals against average, much different than Natalie Buss (0-2-0, 8.50 GAA) who made 77 saves in the two previous games against the Beavers.

"We should see their starting goaltender this weekend who did not make the first trip to Minot," Miner said. "With that, we will need to make sure that we are getting pucks on net, getting in her face, and capitalizing on those second-chance efforts."

Following the weekend trip to Minnesota, the Beavers will wrap up the 2021 portion of their schedule next weekend with a home-and-home series against Dakota College at Bottineau, playing the Jacks on their home ice on Saturday, Dec. 11, at 4:30 p.m., then closing out the calendar year Sunday, Dec. 12, at home at 1 p.m. at the Maysa Arena.