Current Section
Asst. Coach Grant Besse
In his third 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.
He works with the teams forwards and power-play. In 2023-24, BSM was 20-for-68 (.294) on the power-play, the Red Knights best season since Besse's senior season.
In 2012, 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 2011-12.
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, he 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 games.
After finishing his collegiate career in 2017, Besse went on to spend 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.
