MANDAN, N.D. – The reigning ACHA National Champions find themselves on the road once again, but this time playing a rivalry game with all new meaning.

The Minot State men's hockey team heads south to play in-state rival the University of Mary on Saturday night at 7 p.m. in Mandan, a rivalry dominated by the Beavers who have lost only once in 16 meetings with the Marauders.

But all those previous meetings were between teams playing at different levels of ACHA action – not so anymore as Mary is now an ACHA Division I team, just like the Beavers.

The Marauders (1-0-1 overall) made their D-I debut playing at Illinois State last weekend, falling to the Redbirds 4-3 in a shoot-out, then posting their first D-I win, 6-2 on Saturday night.

Conan Hayton, a senior goalie, made 35 saves in the Marauders win over Illinois State, and he stopped the same number of shots (35) in the Marauders lone win over Minot State, a 3-2 victory in Mandan on December 3 of 2022.

Fellow senior goalie Kyle Hayden has seen action already for Mary, as well, making 31 saves in their season-opening shoot-out loss.

Offensively, sixth-year defenseman Cyril Nagurski leads the Marauders with three goals, while senior forward Tanner Eskro has two goals, and senior defenseman Johnny Witzke has one goal and three assists.

As for the Beavers (5-0-0), who will look to keep the Marauders at one win for the time being in their ACHA D-I days, Jake Anthony has led the way in goal with 4 wins and a 1.96 goals against average, while Riley Wallace has the team's other victory in net, a 3-1 win at Jamestown.

Offensively, assistant captains Reid Arnold and Jay Buchholz have exploded early on as Arnold has 5 goals and an assist, and Buchholz 3 goals and 3 assists to lead the Beavers.

Meanwhile, incoming freshman Trenton Curtis is off to a memorable debut season for Minot State with 2 goals and 3 assists, and the Beavers' third assistant captain, Christian Kadolph, has a goal and 4 assists.

Saturday night's in-state rivalry is the lone game for the Beavers this weekend before Minot State returns to the Maysa Arena to host Missouri State on Thursday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m., then Waldorf (Iowa) on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 13-14, with both of those games starting at 7:30 p.m.