Alex Eisen/MDN Minot State defender Brooke Mead surveys the ice during a pool-play game at the 2019 ACHA National Tournament in McKinney, Texas.

Brooke Mead didn’t know how she was supposed to feel.

Surrounded by somber teammates, Mead watched elated friends on her former team celebrate a national championship from across the rink.

“It was crushing,” Mead said. “Obviously, I was happy for the friends I had on that team because they deserved that success just as much as we did. So, I had that soft side of it that I was happy for them. But, at the same time, we wanted that so bad.”

Minot State’s slim 1-0 loss to Assiniboine Community College in the national title game of the women’s hockey 2019 ACHA Division II National Tournament was merely preparation for future heartbreak a season later.

This time, however, the Beavers couldn’t control their own destiny, as the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 ACHA National Tournament.

Mead was trapped swirling in her emotions once again.

“It was very hard to take at first, like you don’t believe it,” she said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, they will change their minds. They will just postpone it or reschedule it or something.’ And then, within like an hour or two, it really settled in — this is really over.”

From ACC to MSU

Mead grew up around her brother and a handful of boy cousins in Regina, Saskatchewan. As such, she was introduced to hockey at a young age.

“So, yeah, I really didn’t have a choice to play anything but hockey,” Mead said.

The Canadian teenager played junior hockey with the Regina Ravens (2011-13) and Regina Capitals (2013-14) in the South Saskatchewan Female Hockey League (SSFHL) before moving up to the Weyburn Gold Wings in the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League (SFMAAAHL).

Mead played two seasons with Weyburn (2014-16) before heading east to start school at Assiniboine Community College in Brandon, Manitoba.

“One of my (Weyburn) teammates recruited me and brought me to Brandon,” Mead said. “Once I was done with school there — because it’s just a two-year college — I wanted to pursue nursing. Minot State was the school that let me play hockey and take nursing as well.”

It was a win-win situation for everyone involved.

“It was a good fit for her with the nursing program here,” MSU head coach Ryan Miner said. “We were a growing program at the time, and we said she would definitely be a good fit to help us grow the program. And she wanted to be a part of it.”

Mead, a self-described defensive defenseman, bolstered the Beavers’ blue line on an MSU team that loved to score goals.

In 24 ACHA DII regular-season games during the 2018-19 season, Minot State scored 146 goals. Fire up the calculator, and that’s 6.08 goals per game.

The Beavers were even more deadly in the postseason, scoring 33 goals in five games (6.6 goals per game).

Mead held on for the wild ride. She finished her junior season with four goals and 10 assists, and played in all 29 Division II games.

“I’m more of a stay back and watch what happens (defender),” she said. “So, coming to Minot and having a more offensive team made me have to better my skills. I had to work more on those offensive skills.”

Mead’s focus was on keeping the puck out of the net, rather than finding the back of the net.

“We never asked her to score goals,” Miner said. “We were just making sure she was making the proper plays in the defensive zone and moving the puck up quickly and smart. As long as she was doing her job on the back end to keep the puck out of the net and giving her teammates opportunities to produce, that’s really what we asked out of her.”

From title defeat to no title chance

Mead faced her former team six times during the 2018-19 regular season with the Beavers. MSU won all six games. So, hopes were high that they could do it one more time when the two teams met for a seventh and final time in the national championship game in Frisco, Texas.

The Cougars had other ideas. Stunningly, ACC managed to shut out MSU’s high-powered but also fatigued offense at the end of a grueling five-day tournament.

“It was a loss that none of us expected,” Mead said.

Refocused and rejuvenated, the revamped Beavers took out their frustrations the following season on ACHA Division I opponents. The jump up a division didn’t seem to faze the Beavers.

While they still weren’t scoring goals at a rapid-fire clip, MSU was still racking up wins. The defensive core held firm, giving up the third-fewest goals (37) in the league during the regular season.

The No. 2-ranked Beavers squared off with No. 1-ranked Liberty — the best statistical defense in the country (0.93 goals allowed per game) — in the inaugural Women’s Midwest Collegiate Hockey League (WMCHL) tournament championship game.

Liberty won 2-1 with Alex Smibert scoring with 17 seconds left in regulation.

It’s the type of loss that leaves a scar behind. Especially now, as this ended up being the Beavers’ last game of the season because of the coronavirus.

“None of us knew this would be our last game,” Mead said. “I took it for granted. I thought I still had nationals and a week left to play. Then, there was that big turnaround, and it was like no. You have already played your last game.”

From hockey to nursing

Mead is ready to move on from protecting the Beavers’ blue line to joining the front lines of the healthcare industry as a nurse.

While the fifth-year eligibility option to come back and play another season with the Beavers is available to her, Mead is going to be extremely busy with coursework.

“With her situation, she is in one of the most hectic programs at Minot State,” Miner said. “Obviously, it would be great to have her for a fifth year, but school comes first. It’s understandable with how many clinical hours she is going to have to put in over the next year and a half.”

Mead is currently doing extra assignments and paperwork to make up for not having clinical sessions at this time. She hopes to graduate with a nursing degree next year and work at a hospital in or around her hometown of Regina.

“I wish nothing but the best of luck as she completes her degree and moves on into the workforce,” Miner said. “She had a big impact on our program over the last two years.”

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