Hastings in Mankato to interview

Mike Hastings, Nebraska Omaha's associate head coach is interviewing for Minnesota State's coaching position today, the university announced on Friday. There will be an open session with Hastings for the media and general public at 4 p.m. today in the Johnson Alumni Room.

Hastings has been at UNO for the last three seasons. He also spent one season on the bench as an assistant at Minnesota. Prior to that, Hastings was was the head coach and general manager for the Omaha Lancers junior team with whom he became the USHL's all-time winningest coach.

According to MSU athletic director Kevin Buisman, Hastings is the only finalist that the university is announcing right now. Hastings' family is in Mankato with him.

Waiting to be 'blown away'

Minnesota State president Richard Davenport's comments on Wednesday seemed to stir up the interest in the coaching vacancy there, but there didn't appear to be much movement on Thursday.

Trying to clarify Davenport's "just a few days" timeline, athletic director Kevin Buisman said in a text: "Search process continues to progress nicely."

Stay tuned ...

Moving quickly (and other notes)

Kudos to The Free Press' Mark Fischenich for tracking down some hockey news during his busy day today. Actually, our political writer was covering Wednesday's event to drum up support for state bonding money for the Mankato civic center expansion project, which includes upgrades to the hockey side of the arena. Minnesota State University President Richard Davenport spoke to business leaders and government officials (and media) at the event and had some interesting things to say about the coaching search.

Among his comments:

• "The candidates we have, you're just going to be blown away by. They are just outstanding."

• "We're going to nail down one of them with a contract in just a few days."

• "Right now as I speak — and I have to leave in a couple of minutes — we're entertaining top coaches for our hockey program to put us back into the winning circle where we haven't been for awhile."

I tried to follow up on that last comment and got the impress from those I talked to that he was referring to the process and that there weren't actual candidates on campus — at least at that time — on Wednesday.

If Davenport's "just a few days" comment is accurate, then MSU is moving quite quickly on this, even faster than what athletic director Kevin Buisman suggested last week. Does this mean the university has its guy or at least has its short list made even shorter?

Meanwhile, the new coach now has a full recruiting class for next season as the last of the eight incoming freshmen, defenseman Nick Buchanan, signed his letter of intent on Wednesday, which was the first day of the signing period. Buchanan committed to MSU in mid-December.

Staying on the subject of Buchanan. He and another MSU recruit, Bryce Gervais, were celebrating the BCHL playoff championship on Wednesday night. Their Penticton Vees defeated the Powell River Kings (and future Mav Jon Jutzi) 3-2 in the clinching game.

More attendance facts

Brian Gomez of the Colorado Springs Gazette did a breakdown of all of the attendance figures in college hockey this season. Take a look at all of those numbers here.

Minnesota State ranked 24th in total attendance (58,110), 25th in average (3,228) and 39th in capacity (65%) out of 58 Division I teams.

Last season, the Mavericks ranked 20th in average. In 2008-09, their best year when they brought in 72,827 fans over 16 games, their 4,552 average ranked 15th in the country.

Just to crunch some of Gomez's numbers, here's a look at how MSU's averages compare to the rest of the WCHA, both current and future, as well as to other teams of interest:

WCHA teams (current)
1. Wisconsin, 11,773*
2. North Dakota, 11,341^
3. Minnesota, 9,539*
4. Nebraska Omaha, 7,864^
5. Colorado College, 6,754^
6. Minnesota Duluth, 6,328^
10. Denver, 5,359^
13. St. Cloud State, 4,939^
21. Bemidji State, 3,521
25. Minnesota State 3,228
28. Alaska Anchorage 3,093
32. Michigan Tech, 2,933

* future Big Ten members
^ future NCHC members

WCHA teams (starting in 2013-14)
21. Bemidji State, 3,521
25. Minnesota State, 3,228
28. Alaska Anchorage, 3,093
29. Alaska, 3,078
31. NorthernMichigan, 2,964
32. Michigan Tech, 2,933
37. Lake Superior State, 2,154
39. Bowling Gren, 2,078
44. Ferris State, 1,859

Others of note
8. Michigan (future Big Ten member), 5,997
9. Michigan State (future Big Ten member), 5,364
19. Ohio State (future Big Ten member), 3,799
22. Western Michigan (future NCHC member), 3,444
30. Miami (future NCHC member), 3,021
46. Alabama Huntsville (independent), 1,527

Coaching search to move quickly

With Boston College beating Ferris State 4-1 in the national championship on Saturday night in Tampa, Fla., it's now officially the offseason. And, right now, the biggest story in college hockey might be the one playing out in Mankato, with the search for a new coach. So here's a quick update on the search.

Minnesota State athletic director Kevin Buisman says he will have a coach in place by the time the spring semester ends, which is the first week in May. But ideally, he said, the hope is to make the hire within the next two weeks — before coaches convention and conference meetings take place in Florida.

There's no question they're moving pretty quickly on this.

"This is a defining moment for the program," Buisman said.

Buisman wouldn't reveal his short list of candidates, but did say, "I'm confident the names being bandied about are the kind of coaches we can attract for this job. They're not out of the realm of possibility in terms of candidates for this opportunity."

Read more in my stories in today's Free Press, including a possible short list.

Connolly wins Hobey

Jack Connolly, Minnesota Duluth's standout senior, was awarded the Hobey Baker Award as the best player in college hockey this season. It's deserving — and I say that as a former Hobey voter.

Connolly finished second in the nation in scoring this season with 20 goals and 40 assists in 41 games this season. That capped a fantastic career in which he was just three points shy of 200. He had 66 goals and 131 assists and never missed a game, playing in 166.

Any MSU fan who saw him knew how talented he was. For his career he had 7 goals and 15 assists for 22 points in 14 games against the Mavericks.

Who's it going to be? A short list (updated)

The search is underway for Troy Jutting's replacement. In fact, Minnesota State officially posted the job online yesterday. Who's it going to be and when will he be named? As for the latter question, the sooner the better for MSU, its players and its fan base. With the semester ending in about month and the Florida coaches and conference meetings coming up in about three weeks, it would be ideal to have someone in place before both of those take place.

As for the first question, names are being floated everywhere you turn it seems. Here's a list of 10 possibilities, based on the usual suspects, a couple of my own ideas, as well as some rumblings around Mankato and college-hockey circles:

Current college assistants
Mike Guentzel, Minnesota associate head coach. If MSU is serious about stepping things up a notch, this probably should have been the first call made by Kevin Buisman on Monday morning. The Gophers are in the Frozen Four this weekend — and Guentzel certainly is getting a lot of credit for their turnaround — but MSU should at least gauge his interest, even if he is the supposed heir apparent at Minnesota.

Cary Eades, North Dakota associate head coach. Besides Guentzel, this might be the other big name out there that might immediately excite fans in Mankato. Word is that he's interested in running his own program and with the success the team formerly known as the Sioux have had under Dave Hakstol, that's not going to happen in Grand Forks anytime soon. UPDATE: Sources have indicated that Eades has already applied for the job and is very interested.

Mike Hastings, Nebraska-Omaha associate head coach. Like Guentzel, he's the likely heir apparent at his current school. But also like Guentzel, how long will he have to wait? Hastings was one of the most successful junior coaches in USHL history and also worked as an assistant under Lucia at Minnesota before moving to Dean Blais' staff. Insiders have said his personality would be a good fit in Mankato.

Eric Rud, assistant coach, Colorado College. Rud has been a hot prospect in recent years. A young up-and-comer in some minds. After a successful year in Green Bay of the USHL, he interviewed for the Michigan Tech job last year and also was rumored to be on the short list at Western Michigan before returning to CC, his alma mater. He also worked as an assistant at St. Cloud State.

Steve Rohlik, associate head coach, Ohio State. The former Wisconsin player was a long-time assistant at Minnesota Duluth before joining his college teammate Mark Osiecki at OSU. The St. Paul native also worked as an assistant at Omaha and coached high school hockey at Hill-Murray.

Junior coaches
Derek Lalonde, head coach/GM, Green Bay Gamblers. The former Denver assistant has had a great first season in the USHL. No other coach in that league's history has won more games in his first year (he surpassed Eric Rud's record). Lalonde spent five years at Denver; before that he was an assistant at Ferris State.

Other levels
John Harrington, former St. John's head coach. Harrington currently is the hockey director for the Herb Brooks Foundation after some time coaching in Europe. However, I've heard his name pop up several times since Jutting's reassignment was announced. Sounds like he's interested. "Bah" had a very successful 15-year tenure with the Johnnies. The former UMD player and assistant coach at Denver and St. Cloud State was also a member of the 1980 Olympic team.

Tom Ward, Shattuck-St. Mary's hockey director/prep coach. If he's interested, Ward shouldn't be hard to find. He's just down the road in Faribault. He's coached some of the best players to play college hockey over the last 10 years so — as well as Sidney Crosby. There are some MSU connections, too, as Des Christopher is an assistant at Shattuck and the Mavericks have had past (Ben Youds), current (Eli Zuck) and future (Teddy Blueger, Ryan Schwalbe) play there.

Could they also consider ...
Brett Petersen, Gustavus Adolphus head coach. His coaching credentials aren't all that different than Harrington's, considering he played at Denver and was an assistant at St. Cloud State before taking over the Gusties in 2000. His successful tenure includes a national runner-up finish in 2009.

Darren Blue, Minnesota State associate head coach. With all of the talk about change, it would be interesting to see how much, if any, consideration would be given to Jutting's longtime assistant coach. My guess is that they want to go outside the program. But it might be worth talking to him to see what he would do if he were in charge.

Do any of those names trip your trigger? Who do you like? Who's missing? Minnesota State's job posting says applications will be reviewed beginning April 10. This could move fast.