The 2019 ACHA national champion Minot State Beavers men’s hockey club (25-4-2) came up short in their bid for another title in 2021. On Tuesday night, they lost to the Adrian College Bulldogs (22-1-0) in the championship game 6-1.

Minot State faced off against the Adrian College at the Maryville University Hockey Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Coming into the game, Adrian was the No. 1 seed and outscored their previous three tournament opponents 29-4. Meanwhile, the No. 6 seed Minot State had three low scoring wins to advance to the title game, outscoring their opposition 7-3.

Things did not go MSU’s way early on as Adrian drew first blood with a goal at the 3:12 mark of the first. Trailing 1-0, the Beavers then had a power play opportunity later in the first. As it turned out, defenseman Eric Soar executed a slapshot from just inside the blue line at the 7:40 mark, then MSU’s Adam Wowryk was credited with the goal off a redirection. It was MSU’s first power play goal of the postseason.

Minot State’s offense applied more pressure with a pair of shots on goal as time expired in the first, but Adrian goaltender Michael Barrett thwarted both attempts as the score remained 1-1.

The Bulldogs regained the lead at 2-1 with 16:33 to go in the second. Minutes later, Adrian added another score to take a commanding 3-1 advantage. Midway through the period, MSU’s Carter Barley was in control of the puck on a 4-on-4 and aggressively approaching Adrian’s net when a Bulldog player collided with Barley on a defensive no-call. While Barley skated off under his own power, the MSU scoring chance went by the wayside.

Forward Landyn Cochrane also had a short-handed scoring chance for Minot in the second, but was not able to capitalize. After two periods, MSU found themselves trailing 3-1.

After a highly competitive third period, Adrian poured it on with three late goals, including an empty netter to win decisively 6-1. Bulldogs forward Brenden scored a game-high three points on two goals and an assist, and goaltender Michael Barrett won tournament player of the game. He stopped 20 of 21 shots on the night for Adrian.