to take over as coach of its men’s hockey program in 2012, the hope was he could turn the Mavericks into winners.
In 10 years with the Mavericks, Hastings has propelled the MSU program into a conference and national power. The Mavericks have played in seven NCAA tournaments, reaching the heights of the Frozen Four in 2021 and 2022. And the MacNaughton Cup, the prized trophy that went to the Central Collegiate Hockey Association’s regular-season champion, practically found a permanent home in the team’s downtown Mankato facility over that span.
It should come as no surprise. After all, Hastings has never experienced a losing season as a head coach at any level.
A three-time Spencer Penrose Award winner as national college coach of the year, Hastings and his Minnesota State teams have won more games over the last 10 years than any other program in the country. Over that time, the Mavericks have racked up a record of 274-96-24 for a national-best .726 winning percentage.
Inheriting a program that reached 20 victories just twice in its first 16 seasons as a Division I program, Hastings truly changed the culture at Minnesota State and turned the Mavericks into a consistent winner. Not only have his Mavericks won no fewer than 21 games in any of his 10 seasons, but they hit the 30-victory plateau three times, including 2021-22 when they won a school-record 38 games.
In Hastings’ time at Minnesota State, the Mavericks have hoisted the MacNaughton Cup seven times in eight years (2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022) and have captured three WCHA postseason tournament titles (2014, 2015, 2019) and a CCHA postseason tournament title (2022). Qualifying for the NCAA tournament appearances seven times (2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022), Minnesota State would have qualified for a eighth if not for the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, which prematurely shut down one of best seasons in team history.
The Mavericks bounced back from that heartbreaking ending with a historic run in 2021. Coming on the heels of a fourth consecutive WCHA regular-season championship — a feat that had never before been accomplished in the league’s 70-year history — Hastings’ Mavericks made it to the Division I Frozen Four for the first time. Minnesota State won the West Regional in dramatic and impressive fashion with a 4-3 come-from-behind overtime victory over Quinnipiac and a 4-0 shutout of top-seeded Minnesota.
The 2022 campaign took things to even greater heights. In addition to a regular-season championship in the newly-formed Central Collegiate Hockey Association, the Mavericks won four straight games to claim the CCHA postseason tournament title. Wins over Harvard and Notre Dame at the Albany Regional propelled MSU to its second straight Frozen Four appearance. A 5-1 win over Minnesota in the national semifinals gave the program its first national championship game appearance.
Hastings’ accomplishments haven’t gone unnoticed. The American Hockey Coaches Association named him its Spencer Penrose Award winner in 2015, 2021 and 2022. He was voted league coach of the year five times (2013, 2015, 2019, 2021, 2022) and was picked as the WCHA’s coach of the decade for the 2010s as part of the conference’s 70th anniversary celebration in 2017.
In 2019, Hastings was given the prestigious task of coaching the U.S. World Junior Team, and he led Team USA to a silver medal at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Canada. He also was an assistant on the USA men's hockey staff that played in the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022.
Hastings’ MSU teams have been driven by some great players. He has coached seven AHCA All-Americans, including one three-time honoree, goaltender Dryden McKay, who, in 2022, became Minnesota State’s first Hobey Baker Award recipient and was a three-time top-three finalist for the Mike Richter Award as the nation’s top goalie.
Other All-Americans included forwards Nathan Smith, Marc Michaelis, C.J. Suess and Matt Leitner and defensemen Connor Mackey, Daniel Brickley and Zach Palmquist. McKay, Michaelis and Suess each earned WCHA player of the year honors, and McKay, Michaelis and Leitner were named to the WCHA’s all-decade team for the 2010s.
Prior to his arrival at Minnesota State, Hastings spent three seasons as the associate head coach at Nebraska Omaha. That followed one season as an assistant coach at Minnesota. But it was the 14 seasons before that in which he earned his reputation as a winner.
Coaching the Omaha Lancers of the United States Hockey League, Hastings never had a losing season and captured three Clark Cup playoff championships in the junior league, along with a pair of USA Hockey national championships in 2001 and 2008. A three-time coach of the year and five-time general manager of the year, he was the USHL’s all-time winningest coach (529-210-56) when he left the league for college hockey in 2008.
Raised in Crookston, Minn., Hastings played collegiate hockey at St. Cloud State.
