A pair of St. Cloud State hockey heroes earned silver medals at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in British Columbia.
USA Hockey’s national junior team — coached by Mike Hastings ’93 and paced by high-scoring forward Ryan Poehling of men’s Huskies Hockey — finished the tournament with five wins and two losses, dropping the gold medal game 3-2 to Finland.
Poehling, a junior, was voted Most Valuable Player by the media, made the All-Star Team and was voted Best Forward by the tournament directorate. See the awards list.
The Lakeville native led the U.S. team in scoring. His five goals and three assists were third-best at the tournament.
No. 1 men’s Huskies Hockey (14-2-2) returns to action Jan. 11-12 at No. 5 Minnesota Duluth. The Huskies host Western Michigan Jan. 18-19.
Hasting played hockey for St. Cloud State from 1986-88, before a back injury ended his career.
He was an assistant coach at St. Cloud State from 1990–1992, under Coach Craig Dahl. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history.
Hastings is in his sixth year as coach at Minnesota State Mankato, where he has led the Mavericks to five 20-plus win seasons. Minnesota State Mankato (16-5-1) is ranked eighth in the nation.
He was an assistant coach for the national junior team at the 2003 and 2005 World Junior Championship tournaments.
Team USA’s games were broadcast on NHL Network and TSN.
