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MINOT, N.D. – While the Beavers hit the ice two weeks ago for a couple of tune-up contests, the quest for another national championship begins for real Friday night as the Minot State men's hockey team drops the puck on another season playing at in-state rival Jamestown at 7 p.m.

The first of a home-and-home series with the Jimmies, the Beavers make their official home debut Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at Maysa Arena, set to take on Jamestown in front of a loud and loyal Minot crowd.

And after seeing a stellar season cut prematurely short at the ACHA National Tournament back in March, the Beavers are raring to hit the ice for a new season.

"There's a lot of excitement," Minot State second-year head coach Wyatt Waselenchuk said. "It's no secret the way things ended last year was certainly tough and certainly will be a motivating factor moving forward."

Four fifth-year seniors return from last season's team that went 31-3 overall and lead the way for a group that returns 21 players and adds five true freshmen.

"This is one of our smallest recruiting classes in many, many years," Waselenchuk said.

Leading the way our fifth-year senior forwards Davis Sheldon (16 goals, 17 assists), Drew Carter (11 goals, 16 assists), Connor Navrot (11 goals, 11 assists), and Landyn Cochrane (7 goals, 16 assists) who teamed up for 45 goals for the Beavers, providing plenty of offensive firepower.

They're joined by two of the best goalies in the nation in junior Riley Wallace and sophomore Jake Anthony who combined for five shutouts last season. Wallace was 16-1-0 with a 1.52 goals against average, and Anthony was 14-2-0 with a 1.37 GAA.

Impressive team leaders back for more this time around and motivated by a first-game loss at Nationals back in March.

"From a coaching standpoint, these guys understand what we want, what we expect as a staff and as a program," Waselenchuk said.

They're joined by five newcomers who got their first taste of Minot State hockey two weekends ago as the Beavers beat Briercrest College 6-1 in an exhibition, then fell 2-1 to Briercrest in overtime in a second exhibition.

An early-season motivating factor for Minot State.

"Just 'cause you're wearing that Beaver sweater doesn't mean you're going to win without effort every night," Waselenchuk said.

Newcomers Sheldin Howard (a 6-foot-5 forward from Thompson, Manitoba), Joey Moffat (a 6-0 forward from Portage la Prairie, Manitoba), Christian Kadolph (a 5-9 forward from Brainerd, Minn.), Eric Krywy (a 6-0 defenseman from Winnipeg, Manitoba), and Troy Hamilton (a 5-10 forward from Brandon, Manitoba) all have been working hard and Coach Waselenchuk expects good things from the newest Minot State players.

"Our five that we brought in are guys that are going to be pushing to be in the lineup right from day one, and not only be in the lineup but be big, big pieces of our team moving forward," he said.

Day One is Friday night at Jamestown with puck-drop scheduled for 7 p.m. Then, back to the Maysa Arena for the home debut Saturday at 7:30 p.m. against a Jamestown team that Minot State will play eight times throughout the season.

The Jimmies also have played an exhibition this fall, a 15-1 shellacking of St. Cloud State, and also come in hungry, like the Beavers, as Jamestown fell in its first game at Nationals back in March, as well.

"Hard-working team," Waselenchuk said of the Jimmies, "same ol' team (Coach) Dean (Stork) has always had; they're always going to work their bag off and they've got great goaltending again.

"Anytime we see that 'J' on their jersey it's pretty motivating for us."