The timing could not work out better for St. Thomas to make a statement.
During a week where three Minnesota schools look forward to the Frozen Four and five can count an NCAA Tournament victory, Minnesota's sixth Division 1 hockey school announces it will begin its D1 men's hockey history with Enrico Blasi as head coach.
Hiring Blasi, the longtime Miami head coach and current Associate Athletic Director of men's and women's hockey at Providence College, showcases what St. Thomas can do by getting someone with his name value. Being both around for over two decades and still under 50, Blasi, who brought two RedHawks teams to the Frozen Four and sits two wins short of 400, knows his way around building a program.
Just as important, it showcases what St. Thomas will not be.
At a time when friendships and connections between the other Minnesota head coaches are as tight as possible, Blasi breaks the state's country club hiring by being as far from Minnesota as any D1 men's hockey coach. Even in the few cases where a new coach came in without a true tie to the state, "foreign lands" were Grand Forks and Fort Frances, separated from Minnesota by a bridge and a river.
Blasi did not grow up in the state. He did not play or coach in Minnesota. His Miami team on average featured 1-2 Minnesotans. That St. Thomas went in this direction, if anything, is much needed. It's different. Being the sixth hockey program in the state - and second based in the Twin Cities - should be reason enough for the new team to think outside the box.
By going outside the box with a big-name hire familiar with the CCHA, St. Thomas shows a major commitment to the sport as it enters Division 1. Rather than getting a name from Blasi's coaching tree, which includes prominent coaches like Jeff Blashill, Chris Bergeron and Brett Brekke, UST picks up the real deal. St. Thomas hiring Blasi brings back memories of St. Olaf hiring former Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves.
Plus, there may be no better year to enter the sport. An extra year of eligibility granted due to the pandemic and a one-time waiver to transfer without sitting out a season makes it easier for programs like the Tommies to start up. Leadership and grad transfers are everywhere, with over 250 players in the transfer portal and counting.
At a place like St. Thomas, in a conference like the CCHA, there will be a need to be creative when it comes to recruiting and coaching. Doing so has been key to Minnesota State and Bemidji State's recent success. Blasi will have an unprecedented opportunity to build a balanced Tommies team from scratch without being underclassman-heavy.
It sets up to be a perfect situation for the Tommies if Blasi can tap into his CCHA coaching success. As impressive as his accolades are, most come from a decade prior. The Frozen Fours were in 2009 and 2010. Miami's top-five 2014-15 season is an outlier surrounded by sub-.500, last-place NCHC finishes.
Blasi is the first of his contemporaries to seek out a second chance. The game has certainly changed. Recruiting has as well. Many of the forward-thinking things Miami did during its heyday no longer are forward-thinking. They have been successfully replicated elsewhere to the point where the RedHawks continue to rebuild since joining the NCHC.
Going outside the box to hire Blasi means St. Thomas risks missing out on a chance to grab a forward-thinker. In that sense, the Tommies go outside the box compared to other recent new programs.
The Tommies will need to tap into new pipelines and be creative in discovering its own talent despite being in the Twin Cities. It's nothing new for Minnesota schools - Minnesota State, with zero teenagers, appears in the Frozen Four with a team that features players from four countries and states ranging from Alaska to Florida - even if Minnesotans like to pretend it is otherwise. The program will need to create its own culture and D1 tradition much like the Brotherhood in Miami.
Still, what worked in Oxford in the 2000s will not work in St. Paul in the 2020s. Who Blasi hires as assistants and how well the team can recruit will go a long way to how far and how quickly St. Thomas can compete in the CCHA.
There is comfort in having someone who knows how to get a program going. St. Thomas bringing in Blasi is a sign acknowledging just that, comfort in being different. It is a sign needed for a program looking to make waves in Division 1 after a successful Division 3 men's hockey tenure and set forth on finding space to build a brand new on-campus rink.
Blasi has experience there. (In fact, Miami's Steve Cady Arena, which was built while he coached the RedHawks, is a fantastic comparable to what the Tommies should be looking to replicate.) The Tommies hope it ends up being closer to what St. Olaf had with Eaves, where the Oles were able to get national recognition and a brand new ice hockey rink, than what Wisconsin had with Eaves - or Miami had with Blasi - at the end of his tenure.
Miami's history remains defined by when Enrico Blasi took over at age 27. St. Thomas hopes its history will be successfully defined by Blasi taking over at age 49.
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It’ll be interesting to see where they’d site a rink. Don’t see much room on campus- and parking?
ReplyDeleteAgreed. There's apparently a plan. However, being around St. Paul and St. Thomas, it's tough to see where a college-sized rink actually fits on the campus. Pretty sure the surrounding neighborhood would not be happy.
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