Bottineau, ND — The Minot State men's hockey team took a trip just 80 miles up the road to for their Tuesday night matchup against the Dakota College-Bottineau Jacks. The Beavers took a win from the Jacks with a final score of 3-1, improving their record to 28-2 as we head into the month of March with the ACHA national tournament just around the corner.
It was 7:30p.m. when the puck dropped to the Jacks' home ice, kickstarting the first period of play between two of northern North Dakota's collegiate hockey teams. MSU saw four minutes in the penalty box in the first period, with
Landyn Cochrane (holding) and
Jordan Robertson (elbowing) each earning two-minute penalties apiece. No goals were scored on either of those power play opportunities as Minot State's defense held strong throughout the first, but their own offensive line was unable to see success as the first period came to a close.
Brayden Pawluk opened up the scoring for the Beavers in the second period of play at 7:16 with assists by
Carter Barley and
Jordan Robertson, taking the lead over DCB 1-0. The Jacks responded just seven minutes later at 14:22 with a 2-man assisted goal by Geoffrey Dick, tying the score up to 1-1. With less than two minutes remaining in the second period of the game, Pawluk snapped back at the Jacks' attempt to take the reigns and knocked one through the DCB pipes, with an assist from
Josh Pederson on the set up.
MSU took the ice for the final twenty minutes ahead of the Jacks 2-1 but were still looking for more insurance goals to add onto the lead.
Reece Henry weaved his way through Dakota College-Bottineau's defensemen and took one to the house on his own at 7:47 in the third, capping off the scoring at 3-1 on the night. Not too long after the third goal scored for the Beavers,
Josh Pederson was ejected from the Tuesday night competition after a 15 minute major penalty was awarded to the skater for charging, along with a game misconduct.
Following the events, there was no more action from either teams as the night ended with a Minot State 3-1 victory over the DCB Jacks.
Riley Wallace held it down in between the pipes for MSU, allowing only one goal with 25 saves in a full sixty minutes on the ice.
Now 28-2, the Beavers look to close out their regular season play with their next two games remaining this week as they take on University of Jamestown for the eighth and ninth times this year. MSU hosts Jamestown Wednesday night, March 2nd at 7:30p.m. in the Maysa Arena.
