Mike Randolph, now Minnesota’s winningest boys hockey coach, aims to get Northern Lakes to the ‘X’

With an 11-0 victory against Prairie Centre on Monday night in St. Cloud, first-year Northern Lakes coach Mike Randolph set the record for most career victories as a high school boys hockey coach with 708.

Eight grandchildren from four children plus one on the way all made the trip to the Municipal Athletic Complex in St. Cloud, a borrowed location to accommodate the anticipated crowd. The countless text messages and voicemails received from former players validated the longtime coach’s approach to relationship building.

“I was blessed to hear from so many players and families leading up to Monday’s game,” Randolph said. “I love working with this age group and developing them into good men and fathers.”

Randolph and assistant coach Tom Klein earlier this year took over a Lightning team that went 18-10 last season. They were officially introduced as coaches in May at an airplane hangar in Pequot Lakes. More than 100 curious hockey parents and players’ relatives attended.

“They have been in their little bubble in their community, thinking they are good,” said Randolph, 72. “I want these guys to see what’s out there and find out how hard they have to work.”

As one of the most successful coaches in Minnesota history, Randolph understands what’s needed to take a program to the next level. Most of his victories came in 32 years as coach at Duluth East. He led the Greyhounds to the state tournament 18 times and won championships in 1995 and 1998.

Upon arriving at Northern Lakes, Randolph reached back into his bag of tricks to strengthen the schedule. The first week of the season contains scrimmages against Hermantown, Cloquet, Grand Rapids and Chanhassen. Tournaments this season at Proctor bring games against Cloquet, Mahtomedi and Duluth East.

Randolph took the same approach in 1991 as the new Duluth East coach when his teams scrimmaged Hill-Murray, Rochester John Marshall and Burnsville.

His philosophy was and still is: Who cares if you go .500 against those teams? This is all about maturing for the playoffs.

Northern Lakes, a co-op among several school districts including Pequot Lakes, Aitkin, Crosby-Ironton and Pine River-Backus, has made one state tournament appearance in its history, reaching the Class 1A tournament in 2021.

“I know what I want this to look like,” Randolph said. “I’ve known what I’ve wanted every team I’ve ever had to look like. We want to give the kids the best chance to play our best hockey at the end of the year. [Klein] and I remind each other to stay in the process. This is all about the playoffs, winning three games and hopefully ending up at the X [Xcel Energy Center].”

Northern Lakes players skated through July’s “Summer Meltdown” tournament wearing New York Rangers-inspired logo patches — something Randolph started at Duluth East — on the shoulders of their jerseys. He attempted to bring the logo to St. Thomas Academy but ran into administrative regulations he called unprecedented.

Randolph didn’t provide specifics, but the logo incident was one of many sore spots to emerge at the Mendota Heights private school that chose not to renew his one-year contract after three seasons this past spring.

At St. Thomas, Randolph, who was inducted into the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2018, grew weary of the relentless off-ice responsibilities for the Cadets.

“I had to be at this golf outing, or this function or that function. It never ended,” Randolph said. “I won’t miss that part of St. Thomas Academy. [Klein] covered for me a lot in those areas. I’m sure that was a turnoff for them a little bit.”

Other misunderstandings have affected Randolph’s lengthy coaching career.

He first left Duluth East in 2003, telling the Duluth News Tribune he “never got any specific reasons why I was being let go.” Former Greenway High coach Pat Guyer hinted at the time of parents as the driving force. Randolph resigned again in 2021 amid an investigation stemming from complaints. Randolph referred to it as “parental pressure.”

Last month, a private investigator hired by the Duluth school district found that Randolph threatened parents and players with legal action, created a hostile environment and violated other employee conduct policies.

At Northern Lakes, Randolph has gotten a fresh start. Players like Jacob Peterson (four goals against Prairie Centre) and Drew Paulbeck (three goals and four assists) are dialed in.

Their new coaches must take doubts from their peers in stride.

“What I have heard a lot is, ‘Where the heck is Northern Lakes?’ ” Randolph said.

Klein has heard, “You can’t be serious. You’re going to coach there?” he said. “To which I respond, ‘Well, we’re coaching and hockey is hockey. Do you think it’s beneath us to be coaching kids?’ ”