Benilde-St. Margaret's Boys' Hockey

John Russo returns for his 17th season at BSM, where he coaches the Red Knights’ defense and is in charge of the team’s penalty-killing unit. He came to BSM in 2007 after filling a similar role on Ken Pauly’s staff at Minnetonka.

The last four seasons have seen the Red Knights post their best penalty-kill efficiencies in Russo’s 15=6 season, including a 62-for-66 mark in 2020-21, good for a .939 efficiency, the best mark by a BSM team in over 30 years.

In 27 years as a high school coach, Russo is recognized as one of the top assistant coaches in high school hockey. He has been a member of five state tournament coaching staffs and has earned three Section Assistant Coach of the Year awards (2008, 2012, 2018) at BSM, for a total of five career awards.

He has served as a head coach in the highly-regarded Upper Midwest High School Elite League and has been a part of the coaching staffs at Blake School, Orono High School and Minnetonka High School, along with three seasons as an assistant coach at Gustavus Adolphus College.

Casey Maikkula is entering his 15th season as a high school hockey coach, and sixth season with the Red Knights.

Prior to joining the Coach Pauly’s staff, Casey served as an assistant coach at his alma-mater, Robbinsdale Cooper High School for five seasons, followed by year-long stops at St. Michael-Albertville and Rogers, before a three-year stint at Maple Grove - one as an assistant with the boys program, and two as an assistant with the girls program.

While at Maple Grove, Maikkula helped each team reach the state tournament for the second time in their histories; the boys in 2016-2017, and the girls in 2018-2019.

Since joining the Red Knights in the fall of 2017, Maikkula has been tasked with various responsibilities by Coach Pauly; ranging from on ice skill development to off-ice scouting and social media coordination.

This season will mark his second as a full-time varsity assistant with the Red Knights.

Maikkula earned a bachelor of science degree in marketing from Metropolitan State University in 2012 and, along with coaching, has served as a social media consultant for professional athletes, musicians, and other public figures since 2010. Most notably, former Minnesota Viking running back Adrian Peterson.

He and his wife, Sara, were married this summer.and reside in Maple Grove with their two dogs; Trixie & Taz.

In his second season on the Red Knights staff is Grant Besse, the 2013 Mr. Hockey Award winner who returns to the fold after a four-year collegiate career and five-year professional career.

Besse made national news when he led Benilde-St. Margaret's to a 5-1 victory in the 2012 state Class AA championship game, scoring all five Red Knight goals, including the final three short-handed.

After winning the Mr. Hockey Award in 2013, Besse was selected in the fifth round, 147th overall, of the NHL Entry Draft by the Anaheim Ducks.

A four-year varsity letter winner, Besse scored 50 points in all four of his seasons at BSM, including career bests of 52 goals, 41 assists and 93 points in 2012-13.

After a 48-goal, 76-point senior season, Besse had set career school records for goals (163), points (272), shots on goal (711), game winning goals (19), power-play goals (42), and plus/minus rating (+160).

Besides earning Mr. Hockey honors in 2013, was a three-time All-North Suburban Conference honoree, was named the Associated Press Player of the Year (2013) and was an AP first-team all-state pick as a junior and senior.

Besides earning Mr. Hockey honors in 2013, was a three-time All-North Suburban Conference honoree, was named the Associated Press Player of the Year (2013) and was an AP first-team all-state pick as a junior and senior.

Additionally, he was the Minneapolis Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year in 2013 and a first-team All-Metro pick in both 2012 and 2013.

He was named honorable mention all-state in 2011 by the St. Paul Pioneer Press and to the second team in 2012, in addition to being named to the All-State Tournament team.

A two-sport standout at BSM, Besse also earned three letters in baseball, culminating his career by being named to the All-North Suburban Conference team as a senior.

He batted .302 in his three seasons, playing both catcher and third base. He hit .362 as a junior and shared the team lead with 18 RBI, starting 21 of 22 games.

During a four-year career at the University of Wisconsin, the Badgers won a conference title and advanced to the NCAA tournament his freshman season. He led the Badgers in scoring in both 2016 (33) and 2017 (28) while serving as an assistant captain both seasons., finishing his career with 97 points in 137 game.

After finishing his collegiate career in 2017, Besse went on to spent time in both the East Coast Hockey League and American Hockey League each of the next two seasons. He then spent three seasons playing in Europe, where he tallied 56 points in 79 games over three seasons, two in Germany and one in Austria.

Derrick Raymond enters his 10th season with the BSM hockey program, filling several rolls and now pulls double duty as an assistant coach and as the team’s director of operations, providing analysis and other duties related to team operations.

Prior to joining the Red Knights, he worked for six years as a member of the staff at Robbinsdale Cooper High School.

Highly involved in youth sports, Raymond has served in numerous capacities for the Armstrong-Cooper Youth Hockey Association, where he is a member of the ACYHA player development committee.

Raymond currently resides in New Hope with his wife, Jessica, and their four children, Jeff, a sophomore at Drake University, John, Natalie and Nicole. He is employed by Johnson Paper, a division of Dacotah Paper.

Grant Holler is in his fourth season as the Red Knights' Goaltending Coach, working with both the Varsity and JV goalies.

After his high school career at Culver Military Academy, he spent two seasons in the NA3HL for the Granite City Lumberjacks and Breezy Point North Stars. In his rookie season, Holler saw action in 14 games and helped his team to the NA3HL title.

After two seasons of junior hockey, Holler attended the University of St. Thomas, where he majored in Business Law and Spanish Linguistics. 

Holler brings diverse coaching experience from past internships with Bandits Goalie School in Michigan and Crossfit Fast Factory in 
St. Cloud, as well as working for Fortis Academy as the Lead Goalie Instructor since 2019.

In addition to developing athletes, he works as a Product Manager in the Financial Services Industry.

Holler resides in Northeast Minneapolis with his wife, Rachel, and two dogs.

Chris McGowan (BSM ‘91) returns for his 17th season guiding the Red Knights’ junior varsity squad.

A member of Ken Pauly’s first varsity hockey team at BSM in 1990-91, He has 10 years of youth hockey coaching experience.

Over the previous 16 seasons, McGowan has led BSM’s junior varsity squad to a 247-114-29 record, which includes last season's 21-2-2 record, the best record for the McGowan-led JV squad.

He served as the head bantam A coach at Minnetonka for three years prior to his return to BSM for the 2007-08 season. He also coached bantam hockey in the Edina Youth Hockey Association for seven seasons.

A three-sport athlete during his prep career, competing in hockey, soccer and tennis, McGowan attended St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minn., where he played soccer for four years. He received his bachelor’s degree from the school in 1995 and also holds an MBA from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College.

McGowan was raised in Edina and currently resides in Victoria with his wife, Jane, and children, Caitlin and C.J. He is employed by Staples, Inc., as a Manging Director for their Healthcare & Strategic Accounts business.

Grina was raised in Hutchinson, Minn., and currently resides in Brooklyn Park with his wife, McKensie, and their son, Hank.

He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Science from the University of North Dakota in 2015 along with a minor in coaching, and a Master of Arts degree in Sport Psychology from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2017, and is employed by SPS Commerce as a Sales Operations Analyst.

Dave Liebrenz came to BSM for his second stint as a Red Knight coach in 2007 after serving on Ken Pauly’s staff at Minnetonka.

In his role, he serves as a practice assistant for the Red Knights, assists with stats and is responsible for set up of both varsity and junior varsity
games.

He helped found and coached BSM’s bantam program before joining Pauly’s staff in 1992. He has over 30 years of coaching experience and also coached in the Osseo-Maple Grove Youth Hockey Association.

A 1978 graduate of Wayzata High School, Liebrenz played hockey, soccer and baseball for the Trojans and went onto play hockey collegiately at Gustavus Adolphus, where he graduated from in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in both psychology and business.

A member of both the American Production and Inventory Control Society and the Institute for Supply Management, Liebrenz holds several professional certifications. He resides in Plymouth.

In his 18th season with the Red Knight program is Craig Roberts, who serves as the program’s Director of Communications/Statistics and Analytics.

In his role, Roberts manages the program's website, handles media requests, compiles statistics and analytical data, works with event management and provides administrative support from his home in Marshall, Wis.

He has worked on the sports information staffs at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Minnesota State and the University of Minnesota as well as serving as the assistant commissioner for public relations with College Hockey America for three years and as the sports information director at Macalester College.

During his work with college hockey programs, he has been a part of three NCAA championships -- 1989 and 1990 NCAA Division III with UW-Stevens Point men, and 2000 NCAA Division I with University of Minnesota women.

Since moving back to Wisconsin, he has worked with the University of Wisconsin as a statistician for men's and women's soccer, and men's and women's hockey.