During this season’s CCHA preseason conference call, Minnesota State coach Mike Hastings was asked about the fact that his team is set to play six consecutive games against top-ranked teams to start the new season.
Hastings joked that he wanted to throw former assistant coach Darren Blue under the bus but couldn’t because he also had a hand in creating the Mavericks’ tough schedule.
“I can’t completely throw him under the bus because I was driving right with him…. Four months ago this seemed like a really good idea,” Hastings said at the time. “As it gets closer, you know what, you wonder a little bit.”
As it turns out, Blue and Hastings had the exact right idea.
The Mavericks kicked off the season with a sweep of defending national champion (and No. 1 at the time) UMass on the road before returning home to face instate rivals St. Cloud State, a series they split. The Huskies were No. 2 at the time. Now, for the third consecutive weekend, the top-ranked Mavericks head on the road again to play two more games against top-ten competition.
MSU takes on No. 10 Providence on Friday in the opening game of the IceBreaker Tournament in Duluth. The teams waiting for them on the other side of the bracket are either No. 3 Michigan or No. 5 Minnesota Duluth.
During a phone interview Wednesday, Hastings talked about the opening three weeks of the season being a “test” for his team.
So far, they’ve passed.
“Obviously you want to go out and be successful, but regardless of (the outcome of) these six games, we’re going to be better going through them,” Hastings said. “They force you to look in a mirror in a hurry. They expose weaknesses.”
Some of MSU’s nonconference series — such as against instate rivals St. Cloud, Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota — are scheduled on a fairly regular, rotating basis and are easier to coordinate because they’re all bus rides. The Mavericks play St. Cloud and Duluth (a New Years’ week home-and-home) this season but won’t play the Gophers this year.
Games against teams like UMass are a little more unique. Hastings said he tries to schedule a trip out east every three or four years. This is motivated, in part, by desiring an even stronger schedule but he also wants his players to have new experiences beyond the Midwestern bus rides of the CCHA.
In the past few seasons, the Mavericks have travelled to play the likes of Boston University (2017), Princeton (2016), Providence (2013) and Brown (2012). Adding defending champions UMass to the schedule was an easy call when Hastings and Minutemen coach Greg Carvel discussed it in the offseason.
“For us, it’s important to have us try and get our east, just so our young men can experience different cultures, different areas, different rinks, different leagues,” Hastings said. “So when (UMass head coach Greg Carvel) said, ‘What do you think about this?’ I thought it was a great opportunity for us to experience something like that.”
Although the Mavericks had to sit through a banner raising on opening night, they rallied to sweep the series away from the Minutemen and come home with two wins. UMass will look to get their revenge in the 2023-24 season, when they are scheduled to come back to Mankato.
This weekend’s IceBreaker Tournament — which itself was supposed to take place last season but was postponed due to the pandemic — is yet another opportunity for Minnesota State to add to its resume.
“When you start your nonconference, one, you want to get off to a good start, but two, you’re already starting to build your book of business for the NCAA tournament, so these games take on an importance that our guys know about,” Hastings said. “I’m hoping at the end of the day, our book of business is good enough to be in consideration for the tournament, and you’re hoping that schedule has prepared you.”
