Garrett Raboin was introduced to Tom Serratore long before he was named Augustana’s first men’s hockey coach.
While playing high school hockey in Detroit Lakes, Raboin made a recruiting visit to Bemidji State. He met the Beavers’ head coach and took in a game at the John Glas Fieldhouse.
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Serratore was the new BSU bench boss at the time, helping turn a Division II dynasty into a budding Division I program. Now, as Augustana is set to make its first hockey trip to Bemidji, Raboin is going through many of the firsts Serratore did 23 years ago.
“Rabs was the right guy for the job,” Serratore said. “He’s a great recruiter. … I was a recruiter at St. Cloud. Your connections and relationships are so important. The relationships I had at St. Cloud, coming into the WCHA, helped me so much. Garrett has the same thing. He has great relationships, he’s a good coach and he has a lot of energy.”
The intangibles that got Raboin the AU job showed during his time as a player. Serratore saw them, which is why he wanted to keep him in northern Minnesota. However, Raboin had other plans.
“I had to tell Tom, ‘no,’” Raboin recalled of his recruiting process. “I went to St. Cloud to play for his best friend instead.”
That friend is Bob Motzko, who is currently the head coach at the University of Minnesota. He tabbed Raboin to be his assistant for six years at St. Cloud State from 2012-18, and four more for the Gophers from 18-22.
“Riding shotgun with him for over a decade, having played for him and then him bringing me along and letting me enjoy so much success with him, I owe so much to him,” Raboin said. “When you’re around Bob, you’re usually around Tom because Tom was on speakerphone.”
Separated by more than two decades, Serratore and Raboin took similar paths to their fresh Division I programs. They were left with a blank canvas to sculpt their visions, backed by passionate communities, vital mentors and strong support systems.
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The dog days
The early stages of Serratore’s head coaching career came with some growing pains, which he compared to starting a business.
“Businesses don’t flourish overnight,” Serratore continued. “There’s a lot of trial and error. There was a lot of that with us, and there were certain components of trial and error that we stuck with. But how hard you work and how smart you work matters. We did have a plan, which helped, but there are times when you think the plan isn’t work. It takes time and patience.”
That plan included the guidance of longtime Bemidji State head coach Bob Peters, who amassed 702 wins, 13 National Championships and a hall-of-fame coaching legacy for the Beavers.
Serratore succeeded Peters before the 2001-02 season – the third D-I campaign in BSU’s 25-year history. Peters and Serratore are the Beavers’ only Division I men’s hockey coaches in program history, and they were tied at the hip.
“We saw each other almost every day, and that helped,” Serratore said. “There were times I went over to his house where I just needed to bounce some things off of him. If you have a wealth of experience like that, you have to bounce things off of him. There are things that pop up that you just need to talk about with somebody. Who better to do that with than Bob Peters?”
Getting to the D-I ranks was merely a small part of the battle. Bemidji State was tasked with building a competitive schedule and roster that could compete at the highest level of college hockey, and it took time.
Before the Beavers made their yearly rounds to play against the other in-state teams and North Dakota, they played a schedule with rigorous travel demands in the CHA – a conference that stretched from New York, down to Alabama, up to Minnesota and over to Colorado.
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Finding players who were willing to build the program’s new foundation was often a painstaking process.
“When we went (Division I), we didn’t have a vision for a league or a vision for the rink,” Serratore said. “Look at what we had to (pitch to recruits) right away. We had to sell playing in the John Glas Fieldhouse and playing in the CHA. We didn’t know if we’d make it to the WCHA. If we did, we had to get a new rink.”
The Sanford Center opened its doors to the public in 2010, presenting several avenues for the Beavers to sustain competitiveness in Division I.
“I worried about the hockey aspect, but it was bigger than that,” Serratore said. “What we have right now, we wanted to make sure we brought that to the people, the alumni base and the university. How long it took was unexpected. Getting a schedule – playing the Minnesota teams and North Dakota, and getting them in your building – was challenging.”
Growing a transitioning program took patience through the faith-testing moments, but Serratore never lost sight of the light at the end of the tunnel.
“My third year as a coach we won the conference championship, and we went to the NCAA Tournament in my fourth year,” Serratore said. “You could see it. We were playing well against teams in the WCHA. It got to a point when we understood that we were OK. We have our recruiting model, and we have four classes of players. … Once you get going, and once you’re successful, you can feel (the program) in motion.”
Selling a vision
Kickstarting a new D-I program in 2023 looks different than it did 25 years ago.
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Raboin was named Augustana’s first head coach in April 2022 – 18 months before the Vikings would play their inaugural game. Raboin moved from Minneapolis to Sioux Falls, S.D., and got to work.
Raboin filled half of AU’s roster with incoming freshmen. He found the other half in the transfer portal. Augustana has 15 transfers and is the eighth-oldest team in the country, with an average age of 22 years and 10 months.
“There were days when you were looking at your recruiting board and you didn’t have half of your roster, knowing that you had to get your next part out of the portal,” Raboin said. “It’s been difficult to stick to the plan because we were steadfast in finding the right people to fit into Augustana and be ambassadors for our hockey program.”
Despite being an established D-I program, Bemidji State is the 30th oldest team in the country at 22 years and four months. Prior to the transfer portal era, Bemidji State had six transfers in program history, nine less than Augustana had before its first season.
“Were we able to go get experience in the portal? Yes, but at the same time, no,” Raboin said. “We have guys who have been around college hockey for a long time. … We don’t have as many who have lived in big moments. We don’t have many who have played big minutes in key roles. That’s where we’re growing. Guys are living through those moments and emotions for the first time.”
Raboin had grown used to welcoming recruits on campus for official visits at SCSU and the U of M. But doing it at Augustana was different. It's his job to sell what he believes Augustana hockey can be instead of what it’s already been.
“You’re driving around with tagboards and blueprints in the trunk of your car, telling them how great it’s going to be,” Raboin added. “You know what your vision is. You know how great Sioux Falls is, but they don’t. To host a recruiting visit to a campus that doesn’t have a rink, it just has a plot of land with nothing on it, it’s difficult.”
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The Vikings opened their newly-built Midco Arena last Friday for the first time for a series against future CCHA opponent Ferris State. AU will be eligible to win the CCHA during the 2025-26 season.
While both Raboin and Serratore acknowledged the jumping-off points for their respective programs started at different heights, they share the same motivation.
“We’re probably similar in the sense that there are people who question how successful you’ll be early on,” Raboin said. “There are kids who want to be the first. They want to do the heavy lifting, break down barriers and head into the storm. Those are the guys we ended up with. It’s not for everyone. We have guys from eight different states, every Canadian province, Sweden and Finland. We had to look high and low to find guys who believed in this vision and believed in me.”
A future to be proud of
Raboin strives to have the career longevity Serratore has logged at Bemidji State. But for now, he’s taking in every milestone moment of coaching a new hockey team in stride.
“We’re asking each other to live in the moment,” Raboin said. “It’s so darn fun. I’m a college hockey coach. My office is in a hockey rink. I get to be around great athletes and great people. I’m having so much fun with it. I’m just kind of riding a wave.”
Even after 23 years of coaching the Beavers, Serratore feels the same way. He loves that his job doesn’t feel like a job but instead an opportunity.
“I feel that I’m young, so you have to stay young,” Serratore said. “Being around young people helps. You have to take care of yourself, and you have to love it. … I love what I do. I like trying to get to a level we’re not at. You have to have that energy. When you have that, it keeps you young.”
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If he hasn’t already, Raboin will learn the trial-and-error lessons Serratore endured. But even in the harder times, Serratore never lacked in his appreciation for those closest to him.
“I thank my lucky stars I have my wife,” Serratore said. “Cindy basically raised our kids. Hockey season is a long season. One year in St. Cloud, I was on the road for 110 days. She never once looked at me and said I needed to change. She supported me. She had control of the situation with our kids and that helped so much. You need support and that’s the one thing I’ve always had.”
Raboin will reconnect with Serratore this weekend when he makes his first trip to Bemidji as a Division I head coach. It comes over 20 years after he made his recruiting visit to Bemidji State. In Raboin, Serratore can see the same determination and commitment that’s made him a college hockey staple for 23 years.
“I look back and think about how rewarding it’s been,” Serratore said. “There are always things you wish you could’ve done differently. I’d like to have a few mulligans, but I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished. It’s been a lot of work, but it’s been fun. There’s a lot of pressure, but it’s self-inflicted. At the end of the day, you want your alumni and your community to be proud of your team. That’s what I hang my hat on.”
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