It doesn’t need to be fancy and it doesn’t need to look pretty.

As long as the game ends with having more goals on the scoreboard than the opposing team, that’s good enough for the Minot State men’s hockey team.

That was the case on Saturday, Nov. 14, with the Beavers scoring a pair of gritty goals in front of the net while limiting the University of Jamestown to just 14 shots on goal in a 2-1 victory at Maysa Arena to complete a weekend sweep of the rival Jimmies.

Both of Minot State’s goals came via the power play. After a scoreless opening period, Sheldin Howard scored his second goal in as many nights, jamming home a rebound attempt in front of the net off an initial shot from Logan Rands. Howard’s goal came just 16 seconds into a holding penalty by Kaelan Shelton.

Penalties continued to hurt the Jimmies. They were called for the final three penalties of the second period and the first of the third stanza. The Beavers capitalized on the tripping penalty whistled on Tyler Lindal 1:07 into the third period. Minot State’s second power-play goal looked a lot like the previous, except it was Joey Moffatt stuffing home the rebound and it was on a shot from Matthew Yakubowski, giving the Beavers a 2-0 lead 2:33 into the third period.

“Brandon Weare – their goaltender there – has been their rock for three seasons now and has been very tough to beat,” Minot State coach Wyatt Waselenchuk said. “He’s as good a goalie as there is at our level. That’s something we talk about all week and focus on practice is he’s going to stop the first one so you have to make sure you’re putting pucks on net strategically where he isn’t able to control it and slow it down and get to the house and being ready to bang home any rebounds because that’s just about the only way you seem to beat him most nights, especially when he’s playing against us.”

While they aren’t the prettiest of goals, Waselenchuk said that style of offense is most effective when going up against a quality goalie like Weare and against a team where there is so much familiarity between the two programs.

“We always know it’s going to be a battle against a team like that,” Waselenchuk said. “They are extremely well-coached and they play within their system very well. It’s a national-championship-feel game anytime we line up against them. It’s a matter of will and sticking with your systems and trying to stay as disciplined as you can.”

The Jimmies (9-6-0) cut into Minot State’s lead at 7:55 of the final frame, as Darius Makse was able to convert on a rare shot-on-goal opportunity. Jamestown took a page out of the Minot State playbook as Makse crashed the net to the right of goaltender Will Dyke and buried a rebound off the stick of Raymon Warrack.

The Beavers (9-1-1) suffocated the Jimmies offense from there to hold on for the victory and the weekend sweep, handing Jamestown its fourth straight loss after it was swept by Liberty University the prior weekend. Minot State didn’t allow the Jimmies to record more than six shots on goal in any period, and limited them to just three shots in the middle stanza. The Beavers held a 27-14 advantage in shots on goal.

“I think we bought in in a big way,” Waselenchuk said about the defensive effort. “How you build championship teams is from your net out and I think a few nights earlier on in the season we were getting away from that. You always want to play offensively and you need to score goals to win, but at the end of the day, our motto is when you do things the right way in the D-zone you seem to get rewarded more in the offensive zone.”

He wasn’t asked to do too much between the pipes, but Dyke finished with 13 saves for the victory.

Friday’s opener had a bit of a different look to it, but it featured many of the same point scorers for the Beavers.

The Jimmies scored late in the first period on a goal from Tanner McCracken to put the visitors in front 1-0 at the first intermission, but the Beavers responded with three unanswered over the final 40 minutes.

Howard tied the game on the power play at 7:14 and Yakubowski netted what would be the game-winning goal 8:18 into the third period.

Howard finished the weekend series with two goals and two assists.

“With Sheldon, you take note of a guy that big that has that kind of a presence,” Waselenchuk said. “He plays physically, but he definitely is tough to play on the opposite side. Everybody is aware when a guy that size is on the ice and he shoots the puck incredibly well and he did a great job of taking away their goaltender’s eyes and when he’s confident, he’s a tough one to play against.”

Yakubowski had an equally impressive two games, registering a goal and three assists. Yakubowski is third on the team in scoring with 10 points this season on three goals and seven assists.

“Matthew has an incredible amount of speed and deception in his game and when he’s confident with that puck it’s tough to take the puck off his stick,” Waselenchuk said. “He can set up so much offensively, and in the D-zone he’s got great feet and a great stick. He’s been playing with a ton of confidence.”

Jay Buchholz added an insurance goal with 1:38 left.

The Beavers again dominated the second period, outshooting the Jimmies 13-4. But Jamestown did manage to get plenty of pucks on net against Minot State goaltender Blake Sittler. The backup netminder was up for the challenge, stopping 26 of 27 shots he faced to pick up his second win of the season in as many appearances.

Weare suffered the loss for Jamestown, finishing with 30 saves on 33 shots faced.

The Beavers hit the road for the next six contests beginning with the three-day ACHA Showcase. Minot State will play UNLV on Friday, Nov. 21, at 4:50 p.m., followed by the University of Utah on Saturday at 2:40 p.m. before finishing against Arizona State at 11:50 a.m. on Sunday. All three games are at Canlan Sports in Romeoville, Ill.