Minot State’s Brooke Mead (left) takes a shot Sunday afternoon against Assiniboine at Maysa Arena.

Clarissa Lewis didn’t quite get the recognition she deserved when her shot from the point made it all the way through the mess of bodies in front of the net. In the chaos, Haley Wickham was credited with what turned out to be the game-winning goal with 12 minutes left in regulation.

The misidentification was later rectified after the Minot State women’s hockey team skated off the ice with a 3-2 win Sunday afternoon against Assiniboine College at Maysa Arena.

Ultimately, it didn’t really matter who scored, the ACHA Division II Beavers (5-0-0) were just pleased to keep their perfect record intact.

Minot State also beat Assiniboine (0-2-0), 5-1, on Saturday to sweep the two-game weekend series.

“(Assiniboine) got rid of their bus legs and, after a defeat like that, they were going to come hard,” MSU head coach Ryan Miner said. “I think they outplayed us in the first period, but we definitely stepped it up.”

The Beavers struck first five minutes into the opening period. A tripping penalty by Assiniboine turned into a free-for-all shooting practice for MSU on the ensuing power play.

Eventually, with 11 seconds remaining on the power play, a puck directed in from the blue line by Mackenzie Balogh stopped right in the blue paint. BethAnn Goudy was at the right place, at the right time to clean up the rebound, 1-0.

Haley Wickham doubled MSU’s lead with seven minutes remaining in the first period when she finished a backdoor pass from former Minot High Majette Bryanna Bergeron. MSU captain Sami Jo Henry picked up the second assist on the second goal.

“The key to everything is you have to crash the net,” Wickham said. “Work as a team, and that’s what we do.”

Winding down to the end of the first period, Assiniboine pulled a goal back with a power play tally by Karli Frederick.

“Our biggest issue yesterday and even in that first period was not moving our feet,” Miner said.

A penalty-filled second period, surprisingly, didn’t produce any goals. The Beavers best opportunity came early in the frame when they had a 5-on-3 power play for a minute and 21 seconds.

Too much time spent in the penalty box is another area Miner would like to fix. The Beavers racked up 14 penalty minutes on seven two-minute minors. Assiniboine wasn’t any better with eight penalties called against them.

“We know our refs and we know what they are like,” Miner said. “Anything with a stick, they are going to call. We just have to be aware of that. Obviously, some of our freshmen aren’t used to it yet. But, for next weekend for sure, they will have to get used to that… We had momentum during the game, then we get a penalty, and it just dies. We can’t really have any chances if we are sitting in the box.”

The Cougars wouldn’t go away and got a goal from Erin Doherty to even the score at 2-2 with 15:36 remaining in regulation.

Less than four minutes later on a power play, freshman Lewis went under the radar to sneak in the game winner, which was also her first collegiate goal.

MSU goalie Shelby Tornato made 14 saves to pick up her fourth win of the season. Tornato is averaging 1.48 goals against and a .934 save percentage this season.

“We knew it would probably be a close game, a challenging game,” Wickham said. “We put it all out there. We knew what we had to do and we did it. We also did our yoga, so I lot of us joke around and say that’s our key thing that makes us work well together.”

The cohesive Beavers put their unbeaten record to the test next weekend by hosting the team they lost to in the ACHA Division II National Championship game last season, Lakehead University. The two-game series will be played Saturday (4 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.) at Maysa Arena.

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.