Submitted Photo Minot State’s Reid Arnold celebrates scoring a goal earlier this season. The Beavers traveled to Colorado over the weekend to compete in exhibition against two NCAA Division I programs, a first for the school.

Whatever you do, don’t call Minot State’s men’s hockey program a “club team.”

In many ways, the Beavers’ program more closely resembles NCAA programs than many of its ACHA peers. For starters, unlike the majority of teams that are pay to play, the school’s hockey programs are fully funded by the athletic department, which allows the program to attract top-level talent from across North America.

“We’re kind of that outlier,” said Minot State men’s hockey head coach Wyatt Waselenchuk. “We’re a very affordable school that’s geographically close to Canada. We’re such a fortunate program in terms of the support that we have with athletics and with our president, Dr. [Steven] Shirley.”

The support, both in spirit and financially, has allowed Minot State to recruit and build a roster that perennially competes for ACHA M1 national titles, such as the championship the Beavers won last year, the third title in school history.

Despite graduating nine seniors from that roster, the Beavers reloaded well enough to remain one of the elite teams in the ACHA, as evidenced by the team sitting atop the division’s rankings for much of the season with a 17-4-0 record.

So, when David Carle, the men’s hockey head coach at the University of Denver, emailed Waselenchuk about scheduling an exhibition game, the Beavers jumped at the opportunity.

“Just seeing the success that we’ve had here, and for them to be on a two-week break, they just wanted to play an exhibition game,” said Waselenchuk. “It was very generous of them to reach out. Honestly, it was them reaching out and seeing if we would make the trip to Colorado.”

The trip marked the first time that a Minot State hockey team played an exhibition match against an NCAA Division I program, and both matchups were against opponents among the best in that division. Colorado College entered the matchup 9-6-1, including a sweep of the University of North Dakota, who were ranked atop the polls at the time. The Tigers are ranked 20th nationally.

The University of Denver sits at fifth in the latest uscho.com poll, with a 12-5-1 record.

“It’s like our football team going to play Alabama, when you really sit back and think about it,” said Waselenchuk. “It was a pretty, pretty unbelievable opportunity for us to go and represent Minot State.”

The Beavers’ players worked on managing their excitement to play against NCAA Division I competition while treating the series like any other game.

“It’s a good test for us. It helps us be better in our league games and play against high class players like that,” junior forward and team captain Reid Arnold said prior to the team’s games. “We just have to take it with a grain of salt. I think we’re not far off with our work ethic.”

Last season, Arnold scored 27 points on 12 goals and 15 assists as part of the Beavers’ championship roster. This year, he is fourth on the team with 19 points in 21 games, but he has already eclipsed the number of goals scored from a year ago with 13 this season.

For Carter Barley, a senior forward from St. Andrews, Manitoba majoring in Criminal Justice, the team has also been focused on creating a family culture where everyone is included, and “doing things outside of the rink, instead of just hanging out at the rink.”

Like many players, Barley was faced with an economic choice; play at an NCAA Division III school, where tuition is exorbitant and athletic scholarships are forbidden, or go to a top-tier ACHA Division I school where tuition is sometimes half or a third of what a Division III school charges.

“I talked to so many schools,” said Barley. “I think the biggest thing for me was the price, you know. The Division III schools, they charge a house for their tuition, and coming here, I’ll graduate almost debt-free.”

Arnold echoed the financial benefits Minot State offers to recruits.

“You talk to all the Division III schools and look at the price, it’s not feasible,” said Arnold.

He also enjoyed being close to his hometown of Yorton, Saskatchewan, about four hours from Minot. “Being able to go home on an off weekend is really nice, and like Barley said, it’s a fun place to play. Great coaches. Great community. Great fans. Great organization. I would recommend it to anyone looking to go to the states.”

Historically, the ACHA hasn’t enjoyed much success against NCAA Division I teams. According to the website The Rink Live, ACHA teams have just two wins in 25 such games prior to Minot State’s matchups, with teams having been outscored 153-26, including nine shutouts.

While the Beavers did add two more losses to that record, neither game was a shutout, and for stretches in each game Minot State kept the game competitive. On Friday, the Beavers fell to the Tigers [Colorado College], 7-1. Arnold scored the lone Beavers’ goal unassisted 4:41 into the second period, and Jake Anthony made 31 saves on 38 shots on goal for Minot State.

On Saturday night against Denver, Minot State kept it close in the first period, only trailing 2-1 at the intermission. Sheldin Howard scored the lone goal for the Beavers in the period. However, the Pioneers exploded for four goals in the second period before Ryan Monias answered with a goal assisted by Colby Joseph for Minot State. Howard added his second goal of the night to open the third period scoring just 59 seconds in, assisted by Josh Pederson and Christian Kadolph, but the Pioneers added three goals of their own to close out the 9-3 victory.

To only focus on the score though misses the point of why the games were played.

The games showcased Minot State University men’s hockey to a much larger national audience than they could generate on their own, as well as provided two games against elite competition that will aid the Beavers in their title defense.

“We went there to play a hockey game and put our school, our team and the ACHA on the map because there are some darn good hockey teams at our level and you know, it’s a fine line for a lot of these kids playing for the Tauros to playing for me versus playing for some Division I program,” said Waselenchuk. “To play a top-notch NCAA Division I program, I mean it’s never been done here yet.”

With the series behind them, the Beavers look to get a bit of revenge when they head to Las Vegas for a two-game series this weekend against the University of Nevada Las Vegas. The Running Rebels shut out the Beavers on Nov. 18, 2023, at the ACHA Chicago Showcase.

Beyond that, the squad is focused on continuing to grow as a team and learning from the adversity they have faced in games against competition like they saw this past weekend.

“I think sometimes when you’re winning every night and it seems like you can’t do anything wrong, it’s tough as a coach to make changes and really dissect your team, asking, ‘What can we get better at?'” said Waselenchuk. “We’ve certainly spent the last month doing that. I think our guys have responded really, really well, and we’re excited for a big second half.”