From Minot Daily News
By Sean Williams
In a rare weekday opportunity, the Minot State men’s hockey team hosted the Colorado State University Rams on Monday at the Maysa. Sitting as the No. 1 ranked team in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) polls, the Beavers (17-1-0 overall) have won four in a row following a sweep of Midland University last weekend.
As the Beavers look to keep piling up the wins, they match up with a Rams team (10-10-0 overall) that is not ranked but received votes in the most recent ACHA poll. The Rams, however, have been on a skid lately, losing three in a row entering Monday.
While one team looked to continue a winning streak and the other aimed to get back on track, it was the Beavers who got a four-goal burst in period two, taking down the Rams by a final of 7-0 and extending their winning streak to five games.
An ultra-aggressive Beavers team came out of the gates firing in the offensive zone, where they managed to outshoot CSU 27-2 in the opening period. With 18:38 left in the opening frame, Landyn Cochrane cleaned up a rebound for a score, quickly giving the Beavers a 1-0 lead on assists from Drew Carter and Carter Barley.
The Beavers would add to their lead on a power-play goal from Reece Henry with 8:47 left in the period, assisted by Cochrane and Brayden Pawluk, to give MSU a 2-0 lead that they would take into the first break. With the Beavers starting to breakthrough, paired with their aggressive approach, this game had the potential to slip away from the Rams quickly.
Although it took the Beavers near the halfway point to score again in period two, once they did, they began to explode and put the game out of reach. They utilized four goals in period two to take a commanding 6-0 lead over the Rams into the final intermission.
Scoring during the period was Jay Buchholz (assist to Joey Moffat); Cochrane (power-play goal, assists to Eric Soar, Buchholz); and Barley who added two goals in a 30-second span, assisted by Carter and Cochrane, as MSU kept up the high intensity, outshooting CSU 45-11.
Putting a bow on a remarkable offensive showing for the Beavers was Barley, who secured a hat trick with a goal in the third period. Cochrane and Christian Kadolph assisted on the goal to make it a 7-0 game which would be the final result.
In a night where the Beavers controlled the puck for most of the contest, starting goaltender Jake Anthony was not tested much, but still put forth a great performance. In the shutout win, Anthony stopped all 21 shots he faced.
In dominant fashion from start to finish, the Beavers ended the night outshooting the Rams 60-21 and showed a balanced attack by scoring at least one goal in each period.
Up next, the Beavers will head to Edmond, Okla. for the UCO Showcase where they will have games Friday-Sunday. On Friday, they will take on No. 19 Illinois State University at noon to begin a busy weekend.
(Originally published at https://www.minotdailynews.com/sports/local-sports/2023/01/beavers-explode-in-period-two-top-rams-7-0/)
