The Minot United boys hockey team has advanced to the state semifinals each of the last two seasons. Minot United is the No. 1 seed from the West Region and plays West Fargo Sheyenne in the state quarterfinal round on Thursday, Feb. 26, at Scheels Arena in Fargo. Mike Kraft/MDN

For decades, the narrative around Minot United and other hockey programs across the West Region as a whole was that the Western teams were nothing more than a warm-up for the East Region at the first round of the state tournament.

It didn’t matter how dominant of a regular season a team from the West had, as it would suffer the same fate year in and year out, seeing its hopes of a state title end in the quarterfinals at the hands of a team from the East.

Minot United has been slowly attempting to rewrite that narrative over the last decade, having the most success of any West Region squad during that span, although the East still remains its dominant self, led by powerhouses Grand Forks Central and Grand Forks Red River. Minot United claimed its second state title in 2015 and has since advanced to the state semifinals three times since 2017. In that span, only Bismarck Century and Bismarck High have won a quarterfinal round game at state, both winning a pair. Minot United is the last team from the West Region to win a state title

“For so long, it was the talk that Minot always loses first-round games,” Minot United co-head coach Jordan Willert said. “Now, these seniors have won back to back first-round games. We’ve had some others sprinkled in there. We had another state title get sprinkled in there. The overall expectations for us going into state has changed in the past 10 to 15 years, where it used to be just go and try and compete at state and now we’re going to try and win hockey games at state. It’s built into our framework and it’s what we hope to do.”

Minot United (21-4-0-0) is looking to make it three straight quarterfinal victories when it plays West Fargo Sheyenne on Thursday, Feb. 26, at noon at Scheels Arena in Fargo. While Minot United are a familiar face at the state tournament, this being their 43rd appearance and eighth straight, the Mustangs are making just their third showing, although they are somewhat of a newcomer to the sport, debuting in the 2017-18 season.

The Mustangs are 2-0 in the state quarterfinals, defeating Jamestown in 2022 and Minot in 2023. They lost in the semifinals both years, finishing the tournament fourth in 2022 and third in 2023.

Sheyenne (15-9-0-0) returns to the state tournament after a two-year absence, qualifying in 2022 and 2023. The Mustangs finished the regular season as the No. 4 seed in the East Region. They dropped their tournament quarterfinal match to Fargo Shanley before knocking off West Fargo in a loser-out game and Fargo Davies in overtime in a state qualifier.

It was the state’s leading scorer Bennett Benson that netted the game-winning overtime goal to send the Mustangs to state. Benson is one of five All-East Region players on the roster. Benson tallied 60 points on 28 goals and 32 assists. Sheyenne is top-heavy in scoring, with its three leaders all registering more than 35 points. Taylor Zander enters the tournament leading the league in assists with 30 to go along with eight goals. Wyatt Mattson is third on the team in scoring with 37 points (19 goals, 18 assists).

“They have some top-end talent that is really, really good that can score,” Willert said. “They have a goaltender that is really good. We’re going to have to work to score goals. We have to find a way to throw the whole kitchen at him – the sink, the fridge, the stove, the microwave. We have to find a way to get everything there. We’ll have a game plan and I know our kids will buy in.”

That goaltender is Cruz Fitzpatrick, an all-conference selection. He logged 1,228 minutes between the pipes this season, sporting a 3.11 goals against average and a .909 save percentage with two shutouts.

Minot United and Sheyenne have met four times in their histories – three times in the regular season and once at state – with the Mustangs winning 3 of 4.

Minot United enters the state tournament having placed third in back-to-back years. They are 3-5 in the quarterfinal round since 2017, the best record of any team from the West during that stretch. They are still seeking that elusive semifinal victory, something they haven’t achieved since winning the state tournament in 2015.

The team comes in with momentum having won the WDA Tournament title for the second year in a row, never trailing during the three contests. They scored 14 goals during the tournament and are averaging 4.52 goals per game while allowing just 1.56 goals to opponents. The Mustangs average 3.50 goals per contest and yield 3.29 goals. Minot United also has the slight edge in special teams, boasting a 31.2 percent success rate on the power play while killing off 88.9 percent of its penalties. Sheyenne’s power play operates at a 28.4 percent clip and its penalty kill is successful 78.4 percent of the time.

“At the end of the day, they just need to work hard,” Willert said. “If we happen to get some power plays or whatever it is, we need to be able to capitalize. If you’re able to do that, you have a good chance of having some success at the state tournament.”

Minot United has many fresh faces to the state tournament scene and Willert said you could see some nerves creep in during the WDA quarterfinal against Williston that he also expects to be present on Thursday. But Minot High also has players familiar with playing in the state tournament, like Oliver Thompson, Jayce Lemon and Cole Richeson to name a few. Those seniors have been on the ice for both of Minot United’s quarterfinal successes the last two years.

“They know what it takes,” Willert said. “The state tournament is hard. It’s a really quick turnaround, but we’ll be ready to go. They’ll have each other ready to go and we’ll make sure they’re prepared and ready to compete.”

Thompson led Minot United in scoring this season with 47 points on 18 goals and 29 assists. Easton Bradley also had 18 goals, adding 20 assists for 38 points.

Minot United goaltender Luke Richeson is coming off a masterclass showing at the WDA Tournament, allowing just two goals on 63 shots faced, shutting out Bismarck Legacy in the championship. He is 15-2-0-0 this season with a 1.21 goals against average and a .939 save percentage. He has three shutouts as well.

Minot United went 2-2 against the East Region during the regular season, dropping its first two games of the year to Fargo Davies and Fargo North before beating West Fargo and Devils Lake. The Mustangs didn’t play a team from the West.

The tournament may be in Fargo, but the road to the state title goes through Grand Forks, whether it’s Central or Red River. The two Grand Forks schools are responsible for 50 state titles, with 30 going to Central. The Knights are the defending state champions. Central and Red River have won all but one of the state titles since Minot won its second in 2015 and one or both have appeared in the championship game every year since 2013.

Also making the trip to state from the West is Bismarck Legacy, Jamestown and Bismarck Century. The Sabers play Fargo Shanley, Jamestown gets Red River and Century battles Central in their respective quarterfinal games.

“Yeah, we’re the No. 1 seed, but everyone knows and talks about the beasts from the East and it’s kind of nice to be able to relish a bit of an underdog role,” Willert said. “But I believe in this group of kids. I believe in the work ethic they put forward. I believe in our game plan and we’ll be ready to go.”