EDMOND, Okla. – The Beavers briefly proved generous Friday afternoon, spotting the Redbirds a quick lead.

Then…

The top-ranked Minot State men’s hockey team quickly erased a 1-0 deficit and dominated in a 5-1 win over No. 10 Illinois State in the opener of the Battle at the Edge hosted by Central Oklahoma.

Minot State (19-1-0 overall) next plays the host Bronchos on Saturday at 7:45 p.m. The two teams played just last month in Minot with the Beavers sweeping a two-game series against UCO.

“I was pleased with our performance today, top to bottom,” Minot State coach Wyatt Waselenchuk said. “After a long couple days of travel, we had a little bit of a slow start, but the guys responded well in the second period and moving forward.

“Our defense did a nice job of keeping things simple and really breaking pucks out well,” the Beavers coach added. “We still need to clean a few things up tomorrow and be prepared for a very good UCO team in their building.”

After falling behind 1-0, the Beavers wasted little time tying the game up as Jay Buchholz scored off assists from Sheldin Howard and Christian Kadolph just 2 minutes, 33 seconds later in response, sending the game into the first intermission tied 1-1.

Minot State then iced the win with a second-period onslaught as Connor Navrot scored unassisted, which proved to be the game-winner, then Carter Barley made it 3-1 off an assist by Landyn Cochrane.

Drew Carter pushed the lead to 4-1 with an unassisted, shorthanded goal with 8:45 left in the second, then Cochrane capped the scoring with a goal off assists from Barley and Logan Rands.

The assist was the first collegiate point for Rands, a freshman defenseman who joined the team mid-season.

Riley Wallace finished with 12 saves in goal in the win for the Beavers who cruised to the victory after the big second-period offensive showing.