Senior Jake Swirple began his charge at a memorable finish to his collegiate career with a dominating effort on the mats last month while freshman goalie Jillian Ackerman made her impact felt and set the stage as the future leader for the Minot State University (MSU) women’s hockey team in the net.

Their outstanding efforts earned Ackerman the Female Athlete of the Month award for February, and Swirple the Male Athlete of the Month honor for February.

Already enjoying a stellar debut season for the Beavers, Ackerman stepped up as the starter for the month of February going 6-1 in goal and posting three shutouts for MSU, including a scoreless streak that stretched 158 minutes, 22 seconds.

Starting the month with 23 saves in a 3-0 win at Minnesota on February 1, Ackerman added 14 saves playing the majority of an 8-1 win at Minnesota on February 2.

The Minot High product then finished off the regular season with back-to-back home shutouts of No. 15-ranked Jamestown, making 24 saves in a 1-0 overtime win and 26 saves in a 3-0 victory on Senior Day, where Jillian’s older sister and senior Paige Ackerman was honored during the game.

Advancing to postseason action, the shutout streak ended in the quarterfinals of the Women’s Midwest Collegiate Hockey (WMCH) Tournament, but Ackerman kept leading the way to Beaver wins as she made 41 saves in a 4-2 win over No. 5 Midland.

In the semifinals, Ackerman stopped 31 shots in a 3-2 win over No. 3 Maryville, then in the WMCH title game she made 34 saves against No. 1 Liberty in the lone setback of the month, a 2-1 loss.

Along with dominating in goal all month long as she posted a phenomenal 1.01 goals against average and a 96.5 save percentage for the 7-game stretch, Ackerman racked up a bevy of individual honors as she was named to the WMCH All-Tournament 1st Team, and named All-WMCH 1st Team and WMCH All-Rookie 1st Team for her play all season long, in February.

As for Swirple, he enjoyed an equally impressive run on the mats for the MSU men’s wrestling team as Beavers the two-sport star and 2022-23 NCAA All-American wrestler went 5-1 during the month, won a tournament title, and posted an upset win over then-No. 8 ranked Luke Tweeton.

Swirple, who returned to the mats after a brief trip to Florida to play in the Podyum All-Star Bowl college football game in January, started is dominating month of February with three straight wins at the Tyler Plummer Classic hosted by Dickinson State, winning the 285-pound weight class title by defeating Shilo Jones from North Dakota State by a 2-1 decision.

The Beaver senior followed up his tournament title by adding a dominating 13-2 major decision upset win over No. 8 ranked Luke Tweeton from Mary, then added an 8-2 win by decision over Nathan Schauer from Northern State.

The lone setback for Swirple, who started the month ranked No. 9 in the nation and moved to No. 8 with his efforts on the mat, was a near-miss at the upset of No. 5 ranked La’ron Parks of Parkside (Wis.), who held on to edge out Minot State’s heavyweight by a 2-1 decision.