URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – A new adventure awaits as the Minot State men's hockey team opens its season on the road this weekend, renewing a rivalry that's lain dormant for the past three years.

The three-time ACHA National Champion Beavers hit the ice in Champaign, Illinois this Friday and Saturday night, taking on the Fighting Illini in the season opener for both teams. The teams last met back in November of 2021 when the Beavers beat the Illini 8-2 and 5-0 at the Maysa Arena.

And while the opponent isn't new, the league is as Minot State is making its Midwest Collegiate Hockey (MCH) conference debut.

"I expect some good competition in a tough building," Minot State head coach Wyatt Waselenchuk said. "The ice sheet is large, there's a ton of room out there. We have been focusing on utilizing our speed, and it's going to be critical to clean up our defensive zone moving forward, especially with the wider ice.

"We are excited to get on the road and play our first two games as a member of the MCH."

The new league creates a new opportunity to schedule tough competition week after week, and come late February the Beavers get to play for an MCH tournament title as a tune-up for the ACHA National Tournament.

And testing themselves against tough competition is exactly what the Beavers did last weekend with a pair of exhibitions in Canada against Saskatchewan and Briercrest.

Reid Arnold scored a pair of goals and Jay Buchholz added another in the weekend series that got Minot State some on-ice action against an opponent before opening the season.

"It was nice to finally play some games," Waselenchuk said. "I thought our compete level was fantastic on Thursday: We worked hard; we blocked shots; we did a lot of the little things that we look for as a staff.

"Friday was eye-opening, and the polar opposite" he added. "It showed us what happens when we don't match another team's work ethic, as we saw on the scoreboard.

"That being said, it was our first two games, against two incredible opponents that are going to have extremely successful seasons at their own level this season," Minot State's coach added.

As for this weekend's opponent, the Beavers face an Illini team that returns its leading scorers in Alexander Matveev and Anthony Varrassi who each netted 10 goals apiece for Illinois, while Matveev added 17 assists for a team-high 27 points, and Varrassi added four assists himself.

While they led the offense, goalie Nolan Woodring played a third of the games in goal for an Ilini team that was 12-14-1 last season with Woodring boasting a 6-1-0 record, a 3.09 goals against average, and a 90.6 save percentage.

As for the Beavers, they're led by defenseman Christian Kadolph, who tied a single-season record with 41 assists last season along with 8 goals, Buchholz, the team's captain who had 12 goals and 23 assists, Arnold, who had 19 goals and 12 assists for Minot State, and goalie Jake Anthony, who was 14-4 with 2 shutouts, a 2.14 GAA, and a 91.9 save percentage.

The weekend series is the first of four games to start the season, and MCH action, on the road for Minot State which plays at Mary on Wednesday, Oct. 2, and at Jamestown on Thursday, Oct. 10, with both games at 7 p.m.

Minot State finally makes its home debut hosting the Ohio Bobcats at the Maysa Arena on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18 and 19, at 7:30 p.m. each night.