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17 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 0 | M H J ON L I N E . C O M O I S I N D I A N A o h i o Lakeville North to four Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournaments in eight seasons, including a championship in 2015. "For us, the recruiting process is very much about relationships," said Eigner. "Having familiarity with a community and relation- ships with coaches and players in Minnesota is important. We have good relationships with coaches that we trust. But once they're here it's our responsibility to make sure the players get what we talked about during the recruiting process. "Winning helps too," he added. Bemidji Bound Over the better part of the last decade, Bemidji State University has successfully mined two key talent pipelines—from East Grand Forks and Thief River Falls. Since 2015-16, Jim Scanlan's second year as head women's hockey coach at BSU, the Beavers have had at least one player from each of those two communities. In 2017-18, 20 per- cent of Scanlan's roster came from just those two Minnesota hockey programs. "The credit has to go to those communi- ties and their youth programs, as they're the ones producing those players," said Scanlan, who coached both the girls' and boys' programs at East Grand Forks High School prior to manning the BSU bench. "If EGF and Thief keep producing good play- ers, particularly those that other programs are interested in, we're going to do our best to try to get them to come here." Some of the most noteworthy pipelines start with family and coaching connections. Haley Mack's father, Jason Mack, played at Bemidji State. He scored the game-winning overtime goal in the 1994 NCAA national title game against Alabama Huntsville. Add that to Scanlan's familiarity with the Mack family—he coached Haley at EGF—and it seemed like a natural fit for Haley to end up at BSU. "We know EGF kids are good people and come from great families and a great com- munity, and you want good people in your program," Scanlan said. "We play in a chal- lenging and humbling league. So, you have to have a group you trust and like being with. It also helps you get through the times when you're struggling. All five of the players I've had from those two programs fit well here and were also good players. Having a chance to coach them (and against them) when they were younger, I could see their passion. Then you talk with their coaches and you know the type of player you're going to get." "Having familiarity with a community and relationships with coaches and players in Minnesota is important. We have good relationships with coaches that we trust." Bowling green State University TY EIGNER, head men's hockey coach at Bowling Green State University Haley Mack played for Jim Scanlan at East Grand Forks before joining him at BSU.