The National Champs are back in the Magic City as Minot State Men’s Hockey has landed with the Murdoch Cup.
The Beavers return home after a 1-0 win in the ACHA National Championship Game, where they beat Adrian College 1-0.
This is the program’s third ever national championship and first since the 2018-2019 season.
Even entering the tournament as the presumed favorite, the rush of emotion felt when reaching the top of the mountain is not something they’ll soon forget.
“It’s just so special, I mean being able to do that with my two assistant coaches and seeing the guys embrace like that is just something that will be forever in my mind. I just couldn’t be more proud of the guys,” said the Beavers Head Coach, Wyatt Waselenchuk.
“The last few seconds of the game when it was over, I just didn’t really know what to do. I kind of just skated on the ice and threw my equipment everywhere, I’ve never done that before in hockey. It was my first time winning something big, so it was pretty awesome,” explained Beavers Forward, Josh Pederson.
The lone goal came with less than three minutes to go in the third period, Pederson went bar down in what turned out to be the difference maker.
“It was a great play, our D-man skated the puck and got it deep and my line just knew we had to forecheck their D really hard cause they have really good defense on Adrain and so we knew to just pressure them quick. Reece Henry got to the puck, I just went to the net and he got the puck to my stick and I just kind of shot at the net and luckily it went bar down which is pretty cool ,” said Pederson.
“To see him get rewarded like that and not only in the championship game but to score the game tying goal with 4 minutes left in the semi-finals, just couldn’t happen to a better kid,” Waselenchuk added.
