Benilde-St. Margaret's Boys' Hockey

Entering his 30th season at Benilde-St. Margaret’s and 33rd season as a head coach in 2022-23 is Ken Pauly, who is in his second stint behind the Red Knight bench.

The 2012 Mariucci Award winner, as the state’s Class AA coach of the year, Pauly has 36 years of high school hockey coaching under his belt, including 33 seasons at BSM.

A Red Knight assistant coach for three years, Pauly took over the reins of the Red Knights in 1990 and began building one of the elite programs in the state, leading the team to Class A state titles in 1999 and 2001.

Pauly was the Red Knights’ head coach for 14 years before taking over at Minnetonka in 2004. He stayed on with the Skippers for three seasons before returning to BSM for the 2007-08 season.

Upon returning to BSM, he took the team to its first Class AA state tournament, claiming third-place honors in 2008, and won the program’s first AA title in 2012.

During his 29 years as the Red Knights’ bench boss, Pauly has amassed three state titles, 15 conference championships and has compiled a 503-237-27 record, making him the winningest coach in the program’s 62-year history.

From 2004 to 2007 he was the head coach at Minnetonka, where his Skippers won the 2006 Classic Lake Conference title and advanced to Class AA state tournament for just the second time in the school’s history, and its fourth state tournament appearance overall, claiming the consolation title.

He was named the Section 6AA coach of the year for his efforts and was also named Minnetonka High School’s 2006 Coach of the Year.

In his 32 years as a head coach, Pauly has put together a 547-268-34 record. He ranks 10th in career victories among Minnesota coaches and second among active coaches. He passed Gene Sack, who coached the first Benilde hockey team in 1958-59, during the 2015-16 campaign on the state’s all-time wins list.

His 300th career win came at the St. Louis Park Rec Center, Jan. 8, 2009, when the Red Knights defeated St. Louis Park, 4-1. His 300th win at BSM came Jan. 29, 2011, as the Red Knights defeated Holy Angels, 8-6.

Pauly became the 19th coach in state history to record 400 career victories on Nov. 29, 2013, when BSM knocked off Duluth Denfeld, 7-2.

He won his 400th career game as the Red Knights’ head coach when Peter Heimbold scored with three minutes, 22 seconds to play in regulation and Cade Gleekel scored with 24 seconds remaining in overtime to give BSM a 2-1 win at 16th-ranked Farmington.

On Jan. 16, 2020, Pauly became the 14th coach in state history to record 500 career victories when the Red Knights posted a 6-3 win at Bloomington Jefferson.

Pauly has also worked with USA hockey’s development program, where he served on the Regional 16- and 17-year-old staffs at the Olympic Training Centers in Marquette, Mich., St. Cloud, Minn., and Lake Placid, N.Y.

In 2009, Pauly won his second Minnesota Wild 3M Excellence in Coaching Award, an honor he also received in 2007 while coaching Minnetonka.

A lifetime member of the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association, he served over 10 years on the MHCA’s Executive Board; three of those as President. Coach Pauly currently sits on the Herb Brooks Foundation’s
Board of Directors.

John Russo returns for his 16th 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 three seasons have seen the Red Knights post their best penalty-kill efficiencies in Russo’s 15 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 26 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 14th season as a high school hockey coach, and fifth 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.

Derrick Raymond enters his ninth 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 freshman at Drake University, John, Natalie and Nicole. He is employed by Johnson Paper & Supply, Co. in Northeast Minneapolis.

The 2013 Mr. Hockey Award winner returns to the Red Knight 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.

After a 48-goal, 76-point senior season, Besse had set 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.

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 Atlantic 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.

Grant Holler is in his third season as the Red Knights' goaltending coach, working with both the varsity and JV goalies.

Holler grew up in Mattawan, Mich., and played hockey for Culver Military Academy in Culver, Ind., where he graduated in 2011.

After his high school career, Holler spent two seasons in the NA3HL for the Granite City Lumberjacks and Breezy Point North Stars of the NA3HL.

In his rookie season with the Lumberjacks, Holler saw action in 14 games, posted a 3.06 goals against average and helped his team to the NA3HL title. After two seasons of junior hockey, Holler attended the University of St. Thomas, where he double 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, Minnesota.

In addition to coaching and developing athletes, Grant coaches goalies for Fortis Academy and works in compliance in the financial services industry.

Chris McGowan (BSM ‘91) returns for his 16th 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 15 seasons, McGowan has led BSM’s junior varsity squad to a 226-112-27 record.

McGowan 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.

Tanner Grina is entering his fifth season as a high school hockey coach, and second season with the Red Knights.

Prior to joining Coach Pauly’s staff, Tanner served as an assistant coach at Mankato East High School from 2015-2018.

Grina followed those three years with a two-year stop at Lakeville South as the Bantam AA head coach, before moving onto Eden Prairie for the 2020-21 season, where he served as a Bantam AA assistant coach.

While at Mankato East, Grina helped the team reach the state tournament in 2018. He also helped the Lakeville South Bantam AA team reach the state tournament in 2019 and 2020, along with helping the Eden Prairie Bantam AA team to the state tournament in 2021.

He has also served as a head coach in the Minnesota Elite Prep Development League for the past five years.

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

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 17th 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.

The spiritual leader of the Red Knights, and the Benilde-St. Margaret's community, is campus minister Mike Jeremiah, who is entering his 13th season working directly with the BSM boys' hockey program.

Mr. J. began his work as Campus Minister at Benilde-St. Margaret's in the Fall of 1975, after graduating from the University of St. Thomas with a masters degree in secondary education.

After many years of creating and working with the school's retreat program, he currently serves as a member of the Liturgy Team, provides personal/spiritual counseling in individual/small group settings, facilitates support groups dealing with family issues and grief support, and provides prayer opportunities for students, faculty and staff, and teams and activities.