The post The Sieve & The Scribe: Ep. 16 (Audio) appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

“Well, I was still playing last year,” Backes said. “So if it was last year, I would have missed out on it. Now with the delay, I’m retired and able to come to a cool event like this.”

Backes played for Minnesota State men’s hockey for three seasons from 2003-06, scoring 46 goals and 119 points in 115 games. From there, he played with St. Louis, Boston and Anaheim in the NHL and played in two Olympics before announcing his retirement this past September after 965 career NHL games.

He returned to the Minnesota State campus for the Hockey Day Minnesota weekend; he said he hadn’t seen a game in Mankato since he left and looked forward to watching the current Minnesota State Mavericks take on St. Thomas outdoors.

Backes also laced up his skates for the Minnesota State alumni game on a Friday night with falling snow and frigid temperatures creating quite the hockey atmosphere. The Spring Lake Park native was the captain for Team Blue, named for longtime former assistant coach Darren Blue. Brooklyn Park native Tim Jackman joined Backes on the team as well.

On the other bench, former Wild player Ryan Carter was the captain for Team Brose, named for former and legendary Minnesota State coach Don Brose, who was also on hand for the game. Brose started with the program as a coach in 1969 before his final season in 1999-2000, a team that finished 21-14-4.

“Oh, I had a lot of fun,” Brose said after the alumni game. “I hadn’t been on the bench for 21 years. To see the camaraderie and the talking, the trash-talking back and forth, it was fun. And I didn’t get a bench penalty.”

The score of the game (played in a pair of 25-minute, running-time halves) was secondary – 5-4 in favor of Team Blue – to the atmosphere and camaraderie on the ice. Although Team Brose came oh-so-close to tying it up in the closing seconds on a shot from Shane Joseph. That pipe at the end was a favorite moment for Brose, he said.

Pat Carroll, class of 1985, played on Team Blue with former NHLers Backes and Jackman. Carroll is an Edina native and currently assistant coach for the Gustavus Adolphus College women’s hockey team. His brother, Mike Carroll, is the head coach and brother Steve Carroll is another assistant.

The alumni game was a fun opportunity for Pat Carroll.

“Everybody seemed to check their ego at the door,” Carroll said. “It was a lot of fun, no matter if you played in the ‘70s, ‘80s or two years ago. It was a lot of fun.”

Carter got close to a goal a couple of times but didn’t quite convert on a goal in the game. He stood out on the ice, in the first half wearing a camera on his helmet to take in the action as he skated. He also wore his Wild-green gloves and breezers with his MSU yellow jersey.

“I tell you what, I was scrambling for some gear,” Carter said. “I didn’t want to wear my Wild gear, but I don’t skate a lot, I don’t play a lot. It’s the only gear I really have.”

Backes actually had a productive night on the ice, scoring a goal and two assists.

“That’s a blind squirrel finding a nut,” Backes said. “You know what? It was fun to be out there, and guys were having a blast, and that’s kind of what it’s all about. We’ve got a couple generations of Mavericks here.”

Not only did both Carter and Backes have success in the NHL, they also played together at Minnesota State. Carter played at MSU for two seasons (2004-06). The Mavericks were 13-19-6 in 2004-05 and 17-18-4 in 2005-06 under Troy Jutting. The Mavericks had four straight losing seasons before Hastings took over behind the bench in 2012-13. Since then, the winning percentages have all been above the .500 mark.

The Mavericks are a notable team in the conference and on a national level. They’ve played in six NCAA tournaments and have won multiple MacNaughton Cups, the trophy for the team that wins the WCHA each season. The Mavericks were a program that had reached 20 wins in a season only twice in its first 16 seasons in Division I hockey, but Hastings’s squads have won no fewer than 21 games during his tenure.

It’s seen plenty of growth since Jutting arrived on campus, first as a player.

“When I got here in 1983, it was all cornfields out past here and we played in a small rink,” Jutting said. “To see where this hockey program’s grown to is just phenomenal.”

Hastings has done a great job as a coach who motivates people, Carter said.

“Hasty does a great job,” Carter said. “He cares about the guys, and in return they put it all out there on the ice for him. The end result is usually a positive one.”

Backes, too, said he takes pride in the growth of the Mavericks program, while acknowledging that he was part of that growth. Carter is proud, too, and doesn’t mind the bragging rights in conversations either, as a Maverick alum.

“You think about the old WCHA, and it was Minnesota, North Dakota, Duluth, St. Cloud and is was kind of like, ‘Oh, you go to Mankato? Oh. Good for you,’” Carter said. “And it’s taken time, but now it’s like, ‘Oh man, you’re lucky. You go to Mankato.’”

Carter gives credit to all the players who’ve come up under Hastings to help produce on the ice and for bragging rights.

Seeing the Mavericks turn into a perennial contender and ranked nationally over the past decade under coach Hastings is a source of pride for guys like Carter and Backes, who said he has his “pom-poms out supporting them” whenever the Mavericks reach the national tournament.

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Minnesota State forward Johnny McInnis was at a hockey crossroads.

After a season in which McInnis watched twice as many games from the press box as he did from the bench, he knew something about his game needed to change.

“My first year was a learning experience,” McInnis said. “My expectations were always high for myself. Things didn’t go the way I wanted them to go my freshman year.”

So McInnis spent time on a skating treadmill with MSU assistant coach Darren Blue. After school was out, McInnis returned to the rink where he first learned how to play hockey, Quincy (Mass.) Youth Arena, and got back to the basics. He worked tirelessly on his skating. He developed a better shot. McInnis knew it was the only way to find his way back onto the ice.

“I wasn’t used to not playing,” McInnis said. “I looked at that summer as, this is it, if I want to give it a shot and make a difference in Mankato, that summer was gonna be huge.”

McInnis returned to school in August a different player. He played in 37 games the next season, seeing his offensive production take a big jump, scoring eight goals and seven assists.

Then he was thrown another curveball. After playing for head coach Troy Jutting for two years, the guy who brought him to Mankato from Boston via Okotoks, Alberta, McInnis needed to prove himself to new coach Mike Hastings.

But as well as the coaching change has worked for MSU — the Mavericks have won more games the last two years than they have in any two-year stretch in over 30 years — it’s worked out even better for McInnis.

Hastings is a firm believer that players who work hard will be rewarded for it. McInnis is certainly not afraid of working hard.

“He’s been a blessing, it’s no secret. I think every guy in our locker room can attain to that,” McInnis said of Hastings. “He’s back-boned the whole thing. He really has, I know he’ll never say it, but he’s been the driver for us, making us believe that if we put the time in, we’re going to get rewarded for it and we’re going to get what we deserve.”

As a junior, McInnis took another step, scoring 13 goals and 22 points as the Mavericks made it to the WCHA Final Five and the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade.

This season, McInnis was named the team’s captain and led the team with 21 goals. He also chipped in with 16 assists.

“He’s started in the basement,” Hastings said. “When you go to the rink everyday, the guy that has the least amount go stress on him is the guy that knows he’s in the lineup every night. When you have to lift and train and do all the things that are expected of you, and you have a pretty good idea that when you walk in the rink on a Thursday you’re probably not gonna play Friday and Saturday, that’s hard.”

From a team standpoint, the Mavericks are returning to the NCAAs for a second straight season. They won their first ever Final Five championship with a 4-1 win over Ferris State last weekend. McInnis said it’s been all about perspective — one that changed the day Hastings came on board and has continued to evolve in the two years since.

“Just the direction the program was going. It didn’t look like it would even be possible,” McInnis said.

Then last year happened, and showed the Mavericks what was possible if they continued to buy-in. But it took more, and McInnis helped lead the way.

Blasted by Wisconsin in the Final Five last season then shut out by Miami in the first round of the NCAAs, MSU’s triumphant return to the post-season was short-lived. Both McInnis and Hastings said they learned from the experience.

“Last year, I think we were satisfied just to get to the Final Five and the NCAA Tournament because we hadn’t been there in so long,” McInnis said. “This year is different. I think you saw that last weekend. We still have work we want to accomplish this time.”

“We learned that you have to be playing your best hockey in order to advance this time of year,” Hastings said. “Wisconsin showed us that right away.”

MSU entered the Final Five this year riding an 11-game unbeaten streak. They outscored Bowling Green and Ferris State 8-1 last weekend to win the Broadmoor Trophy extending their streak to 13 games. Hockey East Tournament champions Massachusetts-Lowell stand in the way of the Mavericks making even more history — winning their first NCAA Tournament game.

Regardless of what happens this weekend, the freshman that once played 14 games has certainly left his mark on the program he had likely never heard of until four years ago.

“I couldn’t be prouder of him, of where he started and where he’s at today,” Hastings said. “The guys really listen to him because they respect him. That at this age is hard to get. He does it on the rink, off the rink, he takes care of our younger guys. He’s shown them a real good way to approach life.”

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