FRIDAY: Minot State 6, Midland 2
Minot State broke open the scoring in the opening period just over five minutes in and held that advantage into the intermission as they outshot Midland 17-10 in the first period. After the break, the Beavers took advantage of two power-play chances and extended their lead to 3-0 at the 13:16 mark.
Thirty seconds later, Jared Wisely put the Warriors on the board with a goal at the 13:46 mark. Zach Weber and Cody Shearer earned the assists as Midland narrowed the gap. MSU would get the goal back though before the final intermission as they scored with 2:18 on the clock.
In the third, Trevor Timm took a feed from Nick Novak and Ayrton Cornic to make the deficit two goals. The energy was with the Warriors as an upset seemed possible with over half a period to play.
Minot State was able to squash the chance of any comeback with goals at the 12:25 and 14:49 mark.
Nahuel Veyan captured 35 saves in net for Midland while his counterpart picked up 20 saves in the game.
“I thought the boys played well in their first game after the break against the top team in the ACHA,” commented head coach Jan Dam. “We knew we were shorthanded coming in and I thought we handled that challenge very well. We’ve got a great group of guys in the locker room who are putting in the extra effort. While the result on the scoreboard wasn’t in our favor, I thought we competed with Minot and had wins in other areas of the game.”
SATURDAY: Minot State 3, Midland 2 (OT)
There was plenty of buzz leading up to the series finale on Saturday night as the Warriors felt they could go toe-to-toe with the ACHA’s top-ranked team. After a quick first-period score by the Beavers and a serious hand injury to Midland’s top goal-scorer, things might have looked stacked against the home team.
That wasn’t the case as they rallied to tie the game at the 7:32 mark as Fletcher Chun intercepted the puck and raced in for the equalizer. Jared Wisely and Zach Eddington aided in the goal that would send the teams to the dressing rooms tied 1-1.
After the first intermission, Midland came out focused and ready for any and all challenges. Just over eight minutes into the period, they took the lead with a goal from Ryan Donovan off an assist from Kolten Wright.
The Beavers battled back with a heavy dose of shots on the Warriors’ goalie and defense. They were able to net the equalizer with 5:58 on the clock, and the teams went into the dressing rooms all knotted up once more.
In the third, the shots kept coming from the Minot State attack but the Warriors held strong. Nahuel Veyan picked up 24 saves in the third and helped send the game into overtime.
During the extra five minutes of play, the Beavers committed a roughing penalty to give the Warriors a man advantage with just a minute gone by. They were unable to capitalize though before things got really interesting in their defensive zone.
As Veyan came out of the crease to take away an angle, his blade came loose on his skate, leaving the net wide open. Zach Eddington responded with a risky but heady play, pushing the net off its position to force a whistle. The play resulted in a delay of game penalty for the Warriors’ captain but kept their hopes alive of forcing a shootout out with 1:57 on the clock.
With just one skate intact, Veyan scooted his way to the bench for repairs. A debate about the penalty, followed by a timeout from the Midland bench, wasn’t quite enough time for the netminder to complete his pitstop. That led to Ondrej Patha entering the contest.
Patha manned the crease and picked up a save in 65 seconds of time before the next whistle allowed Veyan back on the ice. With 26 seconds on the clock though, the Beavers were able to find the narrowest of gaps for the game-winner.
Veyan was solid in net for Midland, playing 63-plus minutes. He corralled 62 saves in the hard-luck loss.
“I can’t say enough about how the guys played tonight,” commented head coach Jan Dam after the game. “The work they’ve put in since the start of the off-season last March, and since they got here in August is why we were able to do what we did against the number-one ranked team. They continue to battle through adversity as a team no matter what gets thrown our way. To be able to play even with one of the best teams in the country for nearly 65 minutes is a credit to the hard work they put in each day on and off of the ice.”
Midland (3-13) will have another tough test for them with little rest as they take on the University of Mary (23-4-1) on Monday afternoon. The teams, which were to play back in November before the weather caused a cancelation, will square off inside Sidner Ice Arena at 2:00 p.m. on January 9.
