MINOT, ND — No. 2 Beavers continue their win streak by adding their ninth victory in a row, after defeating the No. 23 Midland Warriors 5-1 on Saturday night. Minot State swept Midland in the two-night weekend series hosted in the Maysa Arena, improving their overall record to 24-2-0-0 as they head into their final six weeks of regular season competition. 

The intensity that was present amongst both teams on Friday night carried over into Saturday night's matchup between the two top-25 teams. Defense on both sides carried strong but Minot State's offensive lines came out on top, outshooting the Warriors 0-0 and whizzing four goals into the MU net the entire night. 

After a few back and forth penalties during the first ten minutes of play, Jake Bestul decided it was time get down to business and put some numbers up on the board. Bestul scored the first goal of the night with assists by Brayden Pawluk and Jordan Robertson with 10:08 remaining in the first. The Warriors were unable to make anything happen offensively in response to MSU snagging the lead, closing out the first period with Minot State up 1-0. 

Davis Sheldon added some more insurance to the Beavers' lead by scoring the second goal of the night 12:00 into the second period all on his own with no assists, putting MSU up 2-0 and taking the tension off such a close lead. The Warriors' defense shut down Minot State after they scored a goal in both periods, making it a challenge for MSU to get more than just a two-point lead as they came to the end of the second twenty minutes of play. 

Minot State saw their most successful scoring of the night during the third period, tacking three more points onto the scoreboard to further their lead. The Beavers found themselves on a power play thanks to a Warriors skater interference penalty that gave MSU the advantage. Reece Henry and Carter Barley set Justin Metcalf up for the only power play goal of the night that Minot State would see and advanced the lead to 3-0 with twelve minutes left in the game. Less than two minutes later, Davis Sheldon and Josh Pederson worked the puck over to Jay Buccholz who shot another MSU goal into the Warriors' net, setting the night up for what looked like would be a shutout win against Midland. 

Jordan Robertson's boarding call at 12:07 in the third allowed the Warriors a one-man-up advantage over the Beavers that Ondrej Blaha capitalized on with an unassisted goal, putting the one and only point up on the board for Midland. The scoreboard read 4-1 as the clock counted down into the final seconds of the game until Minot State's offense struck another through Midland's goal. 

With thirteen seconds left in the game, Justin Metcalf and Drew Carter gave the puck some love taps before handing it over to Carter Barley to score one more goal for MSU on the night. The Beavers closed out the night with a 5-1 defeat over the No. 23 Midland Warriors sponsored by an all-around team effort on defense.

Jake Anthony in particular played a very large role in Minot State's Saturday night success against the warriors. "Jake was really, really good for us tonight." Head Coach Wyatt Waselenchuk commended the all-out effort from the freshman goalie, "[Anthony] kept us in it for a really good stretch of that game."

Minot State had some unpredicted changes in their gameplan early on where they were forced to go down to four deep, in response to losing Wayde Johannesson due to a major checking from behind penalty that resulted in a disqualification. Not only this, but Brayden Pawluk was injured during the game and was eventually removed from the game due to medical reasons, leaving the coaches to call up Jake Bestul to get the job done. "He did a really good job for us," comments Waselenchuk on Bestul just being "thrown back there" and into the position he was.

In response to the Beavers' performance Waselenchuk noted, "We were pretty darn good tonight," he continued, "we just simplified everything that we did tonight." As Minot State heads into these last final weeks of regular season play, the team is "trending in the right direction", as Coach Waselenchuk mentioned in an interview. "We are doing some good things, but we're still six weeks away and there's a lot of hockey to be played before then." 

Coming up on Minot State's schedule is No. 3 top-ranked Liberty University this upcoming weekend taking place on the Flames' home ice in Lynchburg, Virgina. After the team's four-day trip they'll return home to host another top-ranked opponent, No. 16 Arizona, in a two-night weekend home series. One more game down the road against Dakota College at Bottineau will close out the regular season for Minot State in the next six weeks before the postseason. 

In preparation for their competition this Friday and Saturday the Beavers have a busy week of practice, flights to catch on thursday morning, and an intense Liberty home crowd to prepare for. "They have a great program there and they have really, really good fan support—much like we do here at The Maysa. It's a hostile environment." Coach Waselenchuk describes the matchup between the two teams noting, "this is going ot be as tough a test as you can get in the ACHA, it's a game that we've certainly had circled on the calendar all season long," he continues, "it'll be fun to be a part of."

This upcoming Friday night, No. 2 Minot State will take on the No. 3 Liberty University Flames at the Liberty Lahaye Ice Center in Virginia. Puck drops at 8p.m.