In the midst of one of their most dominant seasons in recent memory, the Minnesota State Mavericks last week found out they were going to be without their head coach for a fortnight in February.
Under the circumstances, though, the Mavericks are just fine with this. MSU’s Mike Hastings was recently named an assistant coach for the U.S. men’s national Olympic hockey team under David Quinn. He’ll leave Jan. 31 to be with the team in Beijing and is set to return Feb. 23.
“We have nothing but respect for coach Hastings and what he’s done for this program and the hockey world. I think it’s a great opportunity for him and his family. He’s earned that moment, every bit of it,” Mavericks senior defenseman and captain Wyatt Aamodt said Friday night, following MSU’s 7-1 win over Ferris State. “Obviously you see the respect for him around the game of college hockey, and what he’s done for our program and all of us individually. We’re very happy for him and we look forward to hearing about his experiences there.”
Hastings, in his ninth year behind the Mavericks’ bench, is no stranger to international competitions. He’s been the head coach of the U.S. World Juniors team before, in 2019, helping Team USA take home a silver medal. Coaching in the Olympics, on a slightly bigger stage, will be a similar honor.
“I’m incredibly honored,” Hastings said last week. “Any time I’ve been able to have an opportunity to be part of a staff to represent our country, it’s been something that I’ve been excited about, and I look forward to it. Now we’re just trying to get through selecting a team and getting prepared so we can best represent our country at the Olympics.”
Hastings is joining a Team USA staff that, perhaps by design, has a very heavy college hockey flavor. Quinn, a former Boston University player, was the head coach for the Terriers from 2013 to 2018 before departing to coach the New York Rangers. He has also been an assistant at Northeastern and Omaha.
In addition to Quinn, the Americans will be staffed by Brett Larson, Scott Young, David Lassonde and Alex Dawes. All have significant college hockey experience: Larson is currently the head coach at St. Cloud State. Young, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ director of player development, played and coached at BU, Dawes played at Utica and is the director of operations at Penn State while Lassonde has 30-plus years of experience as a goaltending coach at Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Denver, Miami and Dartmouth.
Hastings said he has known Quinn since they were both in Omaha – Hastings as the head coach of the USHL’s Omaha Lancers and Quinn at UNO – so when Quinn called and asked him to join the staff, it was a no-brainer.
“I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for David, and obviously he’s been incredibly successful at every level he’s been at, and when he called and asked, it’s an honor to be able to represent your country at the Olympics,” Hastings said. “But I’m also really excited about the people I get to go and work with…. The group that we have, it’s an incredible honor.”
And Hastings might not be the only Maverick headed to China. Junior forward Nathan Smith, the CCHA’s current points leader, has also been extended an invitation to join Team USA. Of the 15 players who have reportedly been given invitations so far, eight are currently playing college hockey. The rest – all playing professionally in Europe – played college hockey in the past.
NEWS: Reporting with @chrismpeters, team and league sources tell @DailyFaceoff these 15 players have been invited to play for Team USA 🇺🇸 at #Beijing2022 Olympics.
List is still fluid, not all have confirmed participation, and @USAHockey is actively adding others. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/jAdBFDawZO
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) January 6, 2022
Smith hasn’t formally accepted the offer yet, but Hastings said he thinks just being invited helped motivate the Hudson, Fla., native this past weekend, when the Mavericks swept Ferris State.
“I think Nathan is pretty humble,” Hastings said after Friday night’s game, in which Smith tallied a goal and two assists. “I talked to David Quinn a little bit about this, and he said it’s going to be interesting, the guys that have been talked to, to see how they play this weekend, hopefully they elevate, and I thought Nathan Smith elevated tonight.”
Smith added another goal and two more assists to his numbers in Saturday’s 7-0 victory.
The Mavericks, who travel to Northern Michigan this weekend, still have another couple weeks with their head coach. But when Hastings does leave, the rest of the team will be well-prepared. Associate head coach Todd Knott has taken the reins before, when Hastings went to the World Juniors. And with first-year assistant Paul Kirtland on board, the Mavs know they won’t miss a beat.
“I’m honored to have the opportunity, but I’m surrounded by phenomenal people. Todd is an acting head coach every day, so his feathers don’t get ruffled by the expectations of him sitting in that seat when I’m gone because he does a lot of the heavy lifting every day,” Hastings said. “Paul same thing, our guys are in good hands. I’m going to focus on our team as we go through this and find time throughout the day when I need to take care of the duties that Coach Quinn and USA Hockey would like me to be a part of.”
