Alex Eisen/MDN Minot State goaltender Joshua Bykowski makes a save in the third period against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Saturday evening at Maysa Arena. The Beavers won 3-2.

Kent Walchuk threw his arms up, skated into the corner of the rink and leaped into the glass. The rest of the Beavers on the ice followed suit and joined Walchuk in a chaotic celebration.

While the Minot State men’s hockey team was celebrating what they thought was an obvious goal, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Rebels were going the other way on a 5-on-0 breakaway.

“I got to be honest, I was a little nervous, but another part of me was like, ‘This is my time to shine,'” MSU goaltender Joshua Bykowski said. “It was a crazy experience.”

Boos rained down from Maysa Arena as Bykowski geared up for the impossible. Before the Rebels were given a chance to make Bykowski look silly, the whistle blew. Arguing ensued.

The no-goal decision was upheld, and UNLV was penalized for having too many men on the ice — a result of the Rebels also thinking the Beavers had scored.

“(Walchuk) was like, ‘I know it went in for sure,'” MSU head coach Wade Regier said. “I’m trying to watch a replay quickly on my phone from the video coming from up top. You couldn’t tell from there. So, I’m texting my intern like, ‘You were behind the net.’ And he was like, ‘I got it, and it’s good.'”

But, by then, it was too late. The game had moved on. And, as if not rewarding a good goal wasn’t enough punishment, the Beavers allowed a short-handed goal on the power play that followed.

But, karma eventually came back around.

The No. 5-ranked Beavers (11-1-2) overcame all of the adversity thrown at them for a 3-2 victory Saturday night over No. 10-ranked UNLV (9-5-1) at Maysa Arena in Minot.

“We easily could have imploded and lost this game 4-1,” Regier said. “We talked about it. And our guys realized that we are a good team, and so are they. We just got to keep plugging away and keep putting pucks on net. Sooner or later it’s going to go in.”

Before the no-goal fiasco, MSU forward Dylan Johnson skated past the entire UNLV team for the first goal of the game. The Rebels countered with a power play goal by Basel Assaf.

Then came the confusion.

“That’s a problem when you have 1,500 people in the rink, and the energy is going off,” Regier said. “Thank goodness they got a penalty there.”

Jared Erickson, however, netted the short-handed tally for UNLV.

MSU got its second goal back in the second period. Kirklan Lycar finished off a 5-on-3 power play with a backdoor snipe.

Bykowski made two timely saves for the Beavers with 10 seconds left in the period to keep the game knotted up heading into the third period.

“Yeah, I had a little bit of a busy night,” Bykowski said. “But, we put up almost the same amount of shots that they did, and we got the right goals at the right time.”

With 10 minutes left in regulation, Rhett Lough found the game-winning goal by hanging out in front of the crease.

“I just went to the front of the net,” Lough said. “Good shot on net, and I was just lucky enough to get my stick on it. It felt good to score a goal like that.”

The Beavers held off a late UNLV surge and did everything possible to get the puck out of their zone, which included Blake Fournier showing off his soccer skills by kicking the puck out.

Behind 31 saves from Bykowski, the Beavers picked up their sixth win in a row and completed a flawless three-game homestand this weekend.

“We have a young team, and these big wins are going to help establish our culture,” Bykowski said. “Establish what it takes to win a national championship.”

MSU is back in action next weekend for a pair of 2018-19 national championship rematch games against Iowa State at Maysa Arena. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m. Friday (Nov. 15) and 7:30 p.m. Saturday (Nov. 16).

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