The West Region No. 1-seeded Beavers couldn’t pull away from East Region No. 5-seeded Mercyhurst University in an ACHA Division II National Tournament pool play contest. But, a burst of energy by senior Vanessa Grimstad and junior Mackenzie Balogh’s knack for finding the back of the net helped blow the game open late.

Minot State comfortably skated away with a 6-1 victory Thursday morning at the Children’s Health StarCenter in McKinney, Texas.

“We peppered them with shots, but it took us a while to get going,” MSU head coach Ryan Miner said. “All year we have kind of been a third period team. That’s obviously not what we want, but we always find a way in the third period to have the lead, whether that’s a big one or just enough to win the hockey game.”

Balogh’s fifth goal of the tournament had MSU up a single goal after the first 20 minutes.

Alex Eisen/MDN MSU forward Vanessa Grimstad prepares to make a move with the puck Thursday morning against Mercyhurst University in an ACHA National Tournament pool play game in McKinney, Texas.

Not quite the 7-1 cushion the Beavers managed to build up against Rowan in the first period on Wednesday, which was followed by MSU coasting to a 16-1 victory.

“It was obviously a completely different game than yesterday,” Balogh said. “We were a little slow off the start, but we picked up our legs and got going… It’s a little nerve racking when it’s close, but I wasn’t worried at all. We were really taking it to them and getting off shots. Their goalie just played amazing and kept them in it for a really long time.”

Grimstad, after assisting on Balogh’s goal in the first period, made it 2-0 MSU with five and a half minutes left in the second period.

The two-goal advantage, however, was short-lived. Exactly a minute after the Beavers had scored, an unassisted goal by Mercyhurst’s Hayley Vandepol broke the shutout bid for MSU goaltender Shelby Tornato.

Even though Mercyhurst was getting heavily outshot through the first two periods, 40-12, the deficit was only one goal.

Mercyhurst goaltender Katelyn Hill wasn’t going to give the Beavers any freebies.

“(Hill) did very well with direct shots,” Miner said. “A lot of our goals came from making her move side to side and that’s kind of where we got to her. But, she was big and played well. I don’t think we got enough traffic in front of her, so she was seeing everything.”

Grimstad added: “We hit a hot goalie. We were getting a lot of shots, playing hard and fighting through all our battles. We just had to wear them down, and we did that. You could see that in the third period.”

When Mercyhurst finally did crack, MSU quickly racked up four third-period goals.

Grimstad assisted the first two goals. First, a backdoor pass to Beth-Ann Goudy for a simple tap-in finish. Then, Grimstad got loose on a breakaway and passed the puck off to Balogh, who was unmarked in the slot to slap in her second goal of the game.

“We knew once we got a couple goals, then the floodgates would open and the goals would just keep on coming,” Balogh said.

More concerned about getting a win and not inflating the goal differential, Mercyhurst pulled Hill out her net with about four minutes left.

Grimstad happily skated in the empty-net goal with 3:10 remaining, 5-1.

“It was a little strange (to take the goalie out) with four minutes left in the game,” said Grimstad, who finished with a game-high five points and leads the tournament with 11 points (five goals, six assists) in two games. “But, they lost yesterday and it was do or die for them. They weren’t going to move on with two losses under their belt. So, just a desperation move.”

With Hill back between the pipes, Balogh buried her hat-trick goal with 37 seconds remaining to cap the 6-1 win. Balogh leads the tournament field with seven goals in two goals. She also has three assists for 10 points.

“(Balogh) is someone you can always count on to put the puck in the net,” Miner said. “She is always skating back to cover for our ‘D’ as well. Her performance has been huge for us and has helped set up plays for her teammates.”

Tornato made 22 saves in her first start this postseason.

Through two national tournament games, Minot State has outshot its opponents 150-32.

“That’s how you win games, just get pucks on the net,” Balogh said. “That’s what we have done so far and we have had success, so that’s what we are going to keep on doing.”

MSU closes out pool play against East Region No. 4-seeded Boston College at 10 a.m. this morning in McKinney, Texas. The Beavers can advance to the national tournament semifinals on Saturday with a win or by forcing overtime.

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