Whether puck drop is in the afternoon, evening, midnight or early in the morning, the Minot State men’s hockey team will be ready to play.

And win.

Due to an impending winter storm in the St. Louis area, The top-ranked Beavers’ series finale on Saturday, Jan. 24, against No. 6 Maryville University was moved up more than 10 hours to 8:45 a.m. As a result, Minot State was back on the ice less than 12 hours following the conclusion of Friday’s 2-0 victory over the Saints.

It took a minute, but the Beavers found their legs in the second half, scoring three unanswered goals in a 3-2 win to complete the road sweep and the season sweep of the Saints. Minot State scored all three goals in a 10-minute stretch in the second period to push their winning streak to five.

After a scoreless first period, Minot State (19-1-2) surrendered the game’s first goal when Maryville’s Chad McIlwain netted a power-play goal at 5:25 of the middle frame. The Beavers countered with a power-play goal of their own two minutes later when Joey Moffatt tallied his 11th goal of the season.

Colby Joseph gave the Beavers a 2-1 lead at 10:59 and Jay Buchholz gave Minot State a bit of breathing room late in the period.

The Saints (11-8-1) cut Minot State’s advantage in half just 1:13 into the third period, but Minot State goaltender Will Dyke stopped eight of nine shots he faced in the final stanza to pick up his second win in as many days. Dyke finished with 27 saves.

The previous night, the Beavers scored the game’s only goals 22 seconds apart in the first period before playing 43 minutes of scoreless hockey.

Buchholz got the Beavers on the board at 16:36 of the opening period and Eric Krywy struck 22 seconds later for a two-goal lead.

That was all the offensive support Dyke would need, as he recorded his third shutout of the season with a 28-save performance.

The Saints held a 28-23 advantage in shots on goal.

The Beavers return home for a Sunday matinee against Midland University on Feb. 1 at 2 p.m. at Maysa Arena.