MINOT, ND ‒ No. 2 Minot State gave up their first home loss to instate rival No. 15 Jamestown in an intense 1-3 upset. The Beavers had an opportunity in the last minute of the game to tie it up, but a failure to capitalize on their six on five offensive plan gave the Jimmies an open net opportunity just fifteen seconds before the game ended, putting themselves on top. 

"We just panicked," recalls head coach Wyatt Waselenchuk on the Beavers' gameplay, "Our D have not been good as of lately…we were hanging onto pucks too long and trying to do too much." The Beavers saw two scoreless periods in a row before finally putting a point up on the point in response to a Jamestown goal just thirty seconds after the Jimmies took the lead in the third. Davis Sheldon, Paul O'connor, and Eric Soar were key to the Minot State scoring game as they were the only Beavers to get the puck past Jamestown's goaltender, Tyson Brouwer. 

MSU worked on their offensive strategy against Brouwer leading up to the Friday night matchup but struggled to execute on the ice. "All you can do on a goalie like that is to throw it into his pads and try to bang home a rebound, those are the things we worked on all week." Waselenchuk reflected on the Beavers' lack of scoring saying, "some days it just doesn't go your way." He continues, "We drew it up just like we wanted to and had a good personnel on the ice; we did just about everything that we could other than score that goal at the end."

Minot State goaltender Jake Anthony left the ice with one minute and two seconds left in the final period, giving the Beavers one guy up on the Jimmies' defense in hopes of ambushing the goalie and pushing the game into overtime. The roar of MSU's fans and the blaring of the horns throughout the Maysa Arena intensified in the last thirty-five seconds of play as the Beavers were applying aggressive pressure on Jamestown's Brouwer. Crowding the net and scrambling to do all they can to get one between the Jimmies' pipes, UJ's Reid Wilson stole the puck away from the sea of Beavers and took it solo down the ice. Charging down the ice, Wilson took a shot from halfway down the rink into the back of Minot State's empty net, sealing the deal at     a 3-1 lead with just sixteen seconds left in the game. 

Although the Beavers walked away without a win tonight, there were small wins for the team's key players throughout the game. Senior Paul O'connor exemplified commemorable leadership tonight on the ice, Waselenchuk commenting, "our guys need to watch him and how he presents himself all game long every single night." The Beavers' head coach also mentioned his pride for the impact his freshmen are making in the MSU hockey program. "I thought that our line of Arnold, Hamm, and Henry were really good again tonight. Those are three freshmen for us that are consistently our best line, so I think we have a lot of upperclassmen that kind of need to look in the mirror and follow suit with their work ethic."

Coach Waselenchuk responds to tonight's loss saying, "sometimes that's just the way it goes." Waselenchuk continues, "Sometimes that's the way it goes. We've been walking a fine, dangerous line lately, maybe we got what we deserve tonight."

Minot State travels to play Jamestown for game two of their weekend series tomorrow night. "We're going to their building tomorrow, so it's going to be that much tougher." Coach Waselenchuk states, "we have to have a short memory and be ready for tomorrow." 

Puck drops at 7p.m. Saturday night, Dec. 10th in the John L. Wilson arena, located in Jamestown, ND.