The Beavers beat down Grand Valley State (Mich.), 13-1, Friday evening at Maysa Arena for their first double-digit win over an ACHA Division I foe this season.

MSU head coach Ryan Miner wasn’t expecting a 13-goal outburst.

“This was the first time we have ever played them, and moving up to Division I, we didn’t really have a clue how any of our opponents are going to be,” Miner said. “Every game we are going in brand-new. We don’t know how they’re going to be, and they don’t know how we are going to be.”

The Beavers (6-5) buried six goals in the first period. The first two were rebound tap-ins on the side of the net by Story Navrot and Sami Jo Henry. GVSU (4-6) scored its first and only goal between those two tallies by Katie Gialloreti.

Alex Eisen/MDN Minot State captain Sami Jo Henry (left) passes the puck Friday evening at Maysa Arena.

“We came out hot,” Miner said. “That’s what we need out of the girls. We need them to jump on it right away and have that edge.”

A spin-around pass by Henry netted Mackenzie Balogh’s first goal of the game with 10:32 left in the first period.

“All of our lines have been rolling this past week,” Balogh said. “So, I wasn’t really surprised that we got off to a really good start.”

A pair of MSU power play goals came next: Alisha O’Hara on a 5-on-3 and Haley Wickham on the ensuing 5-on-4.

Wickham added one more goal to make it 6-1 after one.

“I feel like we controlled the game right from the start,” Henry said. “We weren’t in our end much and had a lot of puck possession.”

Balogh picked up her second goal of the game at the start of the second period before Sarah Martin found the back of the net for her first career goal as a Beaver. Camryn Clyne also wanted in on the fun and pushed the score to 9-1 heading into the third period.

“Everyone contributed,” Miner said. “I think almost every player on the team had a point tonight.”

Third period MSU goals went to Mackenzie Heide, Megan Ferg on the power play, Minot native Bryanna Bergeron and Clyne with six seconds remaining.

More riveting action, however, was found after the whistle. Frustrations started to boil over in the final 10 minutes as both teams went at each other: pushing, shoving and cheap shots all around.

“Obviously, we don’t like it when things get chippy, but it happens,” Miner said. “Frustrations happen when you see a score like that. The thing for us was we were making sure our girls were safe and that they were taking care of their teammates. Protecting their teammates.”

Balogh got caught up in the first scuffle.

“I kind of just skated in there to tell them to back off,” she said. “And I ended up getting sent to the (penalty) box too. So, yeah. You have to stand up for your teammates. We all have each other’s backs on this team. We are all a family.”

MSU and GVSU will square off again at 4:30 p.m. this evening at Maysa Arena in Minot.

“I think it definitely cares over into tomorrow,” Henry said about the tension between the two teams. “We know we dominated them all game, and that fires us up even more. It might fire them up too, I guess. So, we can’t come in flat. Start strong like we did in the first period of this game.”

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