BOSTON, Mass. – The trip to Boston started just the way the Beavers wanted late Thursday night: With a convincing victory.
All-time career shutout leader Jordan Ivanco made 16 saves in goal for the third-ranked Minot State women’s hockey team, and her teammates unleashed an early offensive assault as the Beavers skated to a 7-0 win over No. 10-ranked Miami (Ohio) in the final first-round game of the ACHA Division I Women’s National Tournament.
Freshman Cameron Schmidt got things started for Minot State in her first trip to nationals as she scored what proved to be the game-winner just 3 minutes, 24 seconds into the action off an assist from Riley Ball.
That opened the floodgates on a goal-rush for the Beavers (22-10-2 overall) who put four pucks in the net in a 3 minute, 14 second stretch.
Jordan Kulbida, fresh off being named an ACHA Second Team All-American earlier in the week, made it 2-0 just 56 seconds later with an unassisted goal, then Gracie Perry also scored unassisted 1:12 after that for a commanding 3-0 lead.
Kulbida finished off the fast start with her second of the game with just 6:38 gone from the first-period clock, putting Minot State well on its way to victory in front 4-0. Megan Norris assisted on Kulbida’s second of the day.
From there, the Beavers kept tacking on insurance goal after insurance goal as Paige Ackerman scored with 8 seconds left before the first intermission, off a Kulbida assist, then Norris scored 1:14 into the second period off an Ackerman assist.
Ball then capped the scoring for Minot State, putting away an assist from Norris with 1:29 gone in the third period for the 7-0 victory.
A victory that sends Minot State into the national quarterfinals on Saturday when the Beavers play Maryville (Mo.) at noon (CT). Miami plays a loser-out game Friday against Arizona State.
The shutout was the 18th of Ivanco’s record-setting career at Minot State.
The Beavers now face a Saints team that beat Arizona State 2-0 on Thursday. The teams played twice to open the 2022-23 season back on Oct. 7 and 8 with Minot State beating the Saints 5-4 on Friday and the Saints winning 2-1 on Saturday.
