As a squad, the Minot State women’s club hockey team scored more goals than they had players dressed to play.

The West Region No. 1-seeded Beavers opened the national tournament with a bang Wednesday morning, dismantling East Region No. 6-seeded Rowan University by a lopsided final score of 16-1 at the Children’s Heath StarCenter in McKinney, Texas.

Given the pool play format, MSU had no choice but to be ruthless.

“Obviously, no disrespect to the other team, but goals do matter in this tournament when it comes to tiebreakers,” MSU head coach Ryan Miner said. “We aren’t going to let up because we are put in a situation where it could come down to goals for and goals against.”

Alex Eisen/MDN MSU junior Beth-Ann Goudy takes a shot from point-blank range against Rowan University in the Beavers’ first game of the ACHA Division II women’s national tournament in McKinney, Texas.

Before Minot State went on its rampage, Rowan — making its first-ever appearance at the national tournament — managed to nab the opening goal 1:47 into the contest.

Cassandra Gravelle got the goal.

“First game of the national tournament, it’s obviously nerve racking, especially for the freshmen,” Miner said. “After we got that goal out of the way, then we got our feet under us and started playing better.”

Balogh added: “There were some jitters. First game at nationals, on the second shift. So, that was kind of tough. But, we bounced back right away.”

Goudy opened the Beavers’ goal scoring ledger shortly after and the rout was on.

MSU piled on with seven goals from five different players in the first period. Grimstad and Balogh each scored twice.

Captain Sami Jo Henry and Wickham scored early in the second period to stretch the lead out to 9-1.

“I guess we weren’t ready for the atmosphere,” Wickham said about giving up the opening goal. “But, as soon as that happened, we were like, ‘OK, here we go.’ That woke everybody up and we did our thing out there.”

A minute and a half from the halfway point of the game, Grimstad buried her third goal to get the Beavers to double digits, 10-1.

The Beavers were rolling.

“We have a lot of depth this year,” Balogh said. “Everybody is contributing and we have a lot of goal scorers on this team. It’s really nice to see everybody get on the score sheet.”

MSU kept the puck in Rowan’s defensive zone for most of the game. The Beavers looked like they were constantly on a power play.

“It was a team effort,” Miner said. “I was happy that we got to run all three lines today and everyone contributed. With (hopefully playing) five games in five days, we got to make sure we are staying healthy and not gassed by game four or five if we make it there.”

Following another goal by Goudy, Balogh redirected in her third goal of the game on a 5-on-3 power play. Then, 28 seconds later, Balogh added another goal on the ensuing 5-on-4 power play.

Along with four goals, Balogh was also credited with three assists for a game-high seven points.

“I didn’t think that would happen,” Balogh said about her performance. “My teammates did a lot of the work. I just got a lot of tips and got lucky on a lot of them.”

Besides Balogh, three other Beavers racked up three assists: Bronwyn Bjarnason, Brooke Mead and Grimstad.

One final hat-trick goal by Wickham with 4:50 remaining sealed the 16-1 thrashing.

“I don’t get three goals very often,” Wickham said. “We were moving the puck really well, which is good. Hopefully, that carries on for the rest of the tournament.”

MSU outshot Rowan by an absurd margin of 88-9.

Minot native Jadin Flexhaug settled in and didn’t see much action in net after giving up the first goal. Fellow Minot High standout Bryanna Bergeron also picked up a goal for the Beavers.

Rowan goaltender Emily Render made 72 saves in the loss.

“Give it up for Rowan, they played hard today,” Miner said. “Their goalie played amazing. She was great.”

Minot State continues pool play at 10 a.m. this morning against East Region No. 5-seeded Mercyhurst University in McKinney, Texas.

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