Hermantown's  Andrew Johnson chased Eden Prairie's Mason Moe in the second period of the 5-4 Hawks victory. Photos by John Gilbert.

Mike Randolph never had any illusions about setting hockey coaching records, and he still doesn’t, even though he’s closing in on some incredible landmarks at St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights.

A reporter approached Randolph last Saturday, after his Cadets had beaten Tartan 5-1, because that victory was his 700th career coaching victory. Of course, over 600 of those victories came during his 31 years coaching Duluth East to the elite level of AA high school hockey. He resigned in 2021 after a small cluster of parents whose sons had failed to attain the college scholarships or level of play that their parents had foreseen for them.

So they went after Randolph, and the school and city administration backed up the parents, causing Randolph to decide the lack of support from an administration that chose to go along with the vocal few made it not worth continuing.

He ended up being hired as an assistant and then co-coach at St. Thomas Academy for one year, and when that administration decided to make a change, hired Randolph to take over.

“I’ve moved on from all of that,” Randolph said earlier this week. “I am a ma of faith, and I believe this was all destined to happen, and I couldn’t be happier about how it’s all worked out. All I want to do is coach, and when they asked me about the Tartan game, I said all I was focused on was winning the game. We have great kids, and we’ve turned a corner for this season.”

Next for Randolph is the 707 coaching victories for retired Rochester Mayo coach Lorne Grosso. Not that he’s thought about that, either. “I have no idea if I’ll ever get there,” he said, “and all I know is we play Edina and Hill-Murray this week. We have such a tough schedule I don’t know if we’ll win eight more games before the season is over.”

Whatever, somebody will undoubtedly have to tell him when he reaches that milestone. Same as with No. 700, which came on the same day that is old school, Duluth East (3-10-1) lost a running-time game 6-0 to Chanhassen.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Hermantown survived a volatile rally from Eden Prairie for a 5-4 victory as the Hawks continue finding the right combinations to keep winning. “We’ve had some early success,” said coach Pat Andrews. “I had looked ahead and with our schedule I was hoping we could be .500 by Christmas, but we’ve found what I think are the best combinations.”

The Hawks (9-2-2) battled perennial power Eden Prairie through a scoreless first period, getting outshot 8-1 by the middle of the first period, then finally establishing some offense on the power play. First-line center River Freeman broke through on a power play, and defenseman Will Esterbrooks scored twice from the blue line as Hermantown went ahead 2-0 after two periods and extended the lead to 5-1 in the third.

“But Eden Prairie has some strong players, and they came back to close the gap. They got two goals in the last couple of minutes to make it 5-4 and we had to have Dane Callaway come through in goal to make sure we held on,” Andrews said. “Eden Prairie was good, although I think Rosemount is the best team we’ve seen. I know that Minnetonka and Wayzata are maybe the strongest two AA teams in the state, but Rosemount is the best we’ve seen.”

Warroad, another perennial Class A power along with Hermantown, will come to Hermantown for a 4 p.m. game on Saturday.

Hermantown's River Freeman (23) scored the game's first goal on Eden Prairie goaltender Isaiah Paulnock in the 5-4 Hawks victory.

NHL needs revision

If the National Hockey League is truly the best hockey league in the world, maybe it’s time the league administrators make some revisions in their discipline. In college, high school and youth hockey, if a player runs an unsuspecting opponent from behind or crashes him into the boars, he is generally ejected with a 5-minute major and game misconduct. But in the National Hockey League, such acts are not only accepted but often go uncalled with even  minor penalty. That’s what happened to Kirill Kaprizov of the Wild, when Winnipeg defenseman Brenden Dillon started working him over by delivering a series of lower-back crosschecks every time Kaprizov ventured near.

Finally, Kaprizov went for aid from the trainer and left the game, and for all we know his injury could be a fractured rib or two. No penalty, and the league declared no further disciplinary action would be required.

Flash forward a week or so, and while the Wild are laboring to win without their top scorer, the Chicago Blackhawks, in their first stage of rebuilding, lost star 18-year-old draft choice Connor Bedard, an immensely skilled counterman, when he was KO’d by New Jersey’s Brendan Smith. Bedard is out with a broken jaw. No penalty, no further discipline. Bedard led the Hawks with 15 goals, 18 assists and 33 points, and we don’t know how long he’ll be out.

But both Kaprizov and Bedard are among the league’s jewels — players who might entice fans to buy a ticket. Both are out, and the league has retained its macho image.

Vikings are done

The Minnesota Vikings have mercifully ended their woeful 10-loss season without reaching the playoffs, after a 30-20 loss at Detroit in the season finale. The first round of playoffs will be interesting, and the NFL favorites such as Kanas City, San Francisco, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Dallas and others are nothing certain at this point.

My pick to win the Super Bowl is Detroit, which I picked to win the division title before the season started, and I also have been captivated by the late-season surge of the Houston Texans, who are led by rookie quarterback CJ Stroud, whose adjustments and passing make the Texans 10-7 and capable of beating anyone.

That also gives renewed hope to the Vikings, who will get a solid high draft pick and could use it to take one of a half-dozen high-skilled quarterbacks available. My choice remains Bo Nix from Oregon, who can run, think and throw bullets when passes are called for. He would bring to life the Vikings offense, and Justin Jefferson would think he had found heaven.

Bulldogs resume play

The UMD men’s and women’s hockey teams return to AMSOIL Arena this weekend with some interesting matches. The women will face neighborhood rival Bemidji State at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday, followed by the men taking on a new-look Colorado College outfit which stopped on its way to town to whip the Gophers in Minneapolis. The CC Tigers take on UMD Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. after the women play, and the Bulldogs need to clear their throats of the 3-1 loss they suffered at St. Thomas last Saturday and get serious about the second half of the NCHC race.

 Josh Kauppinen was quick to celebrate the first of two goals by teammate Will Esterbrooks.