MacMillan, like many people in the audience, is from the “State of Hockey,” which was the unofficial theme of night one. Christian Koelling, the Minnesota District Coach-in-Chief, gave remarks about how thankful he was that everyone was in Duluth to grow the game together while Dan Brennan, USA Hockey’s director of sled national teams, mentioned that you would be hard-pressed to find someone that hasn’t been influenced by someone from Minnesota.
The culmination of the opening remarks came from a special group of coaches from the “State of Hockey.” Scott Sandelin (University of Minnesota Duluth), Mike Hastings (Minnesota State University at Mankato), Brett Larson (St. Cloud State University) and Tom Serratore (Bemidji State University) took the stage for a panel discussion.
The quartet of coaches all led their teams to the 2021 NCAA tournament, with Hastings and Sandelin reaching the Frozen Four and Larson taking his squad to the National Championship against UMass. Sandelin’s Bulldog squad had won the previous two National Championships.
The coaches began by talking about those who influenced them, and Larson kept it up on stage when saying that Sandelin helped him get a start in coaching by taking a chance on him shortly after his playing days.
