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April 17, 2012

Frederick: Hastings hire a serious signal from MSU

By Shane Frederick Free Press Staff Writer

Nine months ago, there was much fear and loathing about the future of the Minnesota State men’s hockey team.

The Western Collegiate Hockey Association shakeup began with five teams announcing they would be breaking away in two years. This came on the heels of the formation of Big Ten hockey and the WCHA’s loss of Minnesota and Wisconsin in 2013. Later, St. Cloud State opted to follow North Dakota, Minnesota Duluth, Denver, Colorado College and Nebraska Omaha out of the conference and into the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

Minnesota State would be left behind, along with Bemidji State, Michigan Tech and Alaska Anchorage, as well as a merry band of similarly sized programs salvaged from the sinking Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

While there were many reasons to believe that the Mavericks could have great success in the revamped WCHA, it was hard for many fans to feel good about a being part of a league that will be a shell of its once-great self.

Minnesota State’s 11th-place finish this past season didn’t instill much confidence either, and that could be seen as attendance figures fell to their lowest levels since before the Mavericks were admitted into the conference.

Troy Jutting became a casualty of the losing season and the dwindling fan base, as the university removed him as head coach and reassigned him to an administrative role in the athletic department for the remaining 15 months of his contract.

The next move by MSU would be the most important one since the decision was made to go Division I.

The choice of Jutting’s successor would go a long way in showing what kind of commitment the university would be putting in its hockey program for the long haul, beyond the final season of the classic WCHA.

When Mike Hastings was hired over the weekend, that should have answered the question for a lot of folks.

Hastings, the all-time winningest coach in United States Hockey League history and, most recently, the associate head coach at Nebraska Omaha, was a big-time hire — even if his name alone didn’t blow away the casual fan (few names likely would have).

And if the hiring itself didn’t do it, Hastings’ $225,000 salary and the talk of facilities and other program upgrades during Monday’s press conference should have instilled confidence in the future.

Hastings said he sought “like-mindedness of where we wanted the program to go,” when talking to MSU officials about the job.

Interesting term, considering “like-minded” was the term often tossed around by the schools leaving for the NCHC.

It may have been too late for Minnesota State to get a golden ticket into a super league, but it wasn’t too late to reinvest in the hockey, revive the fan base and reconstruct the program to be the best in the future WCHA.

Hastings appears to be the right man to take the Mavericks there.

“This is a special place,” Hastings said. “It’s a place I’m going to call home. I can’t wait to get started.”



Shane Frederick is a Free Press staff writer. Read his blog at mankatofreepresshockey.blogspot.com. Follow him on Twitter @puckato.

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