Long before Travis Winter became the Bemidji State men’s hockey team’s associate head coach, he manned the blue line for the Beavers in the mid-2000s.
During his freshman season in his first home series at John S. Glas Arena, Winter scored his first goal. He skated through the handshake line and went back to the bench.
“I’m expecting a pat on the back or a ‘great job,’” Winter recalled.
Instead, the rookie defender was met with constructive criticism from head coach Tom Serratore.
“He was correcting me on something that happened 30 seconds earlier in that shift before I scored the goal,” Winter said with a laugh. “I’m just thinking to myself, ‘What the heck? I just scored my first collegiate goal and he’s talking about a mistake I made prior to that?’”
After a win over the Mavericks, Winter eventually got his praise from BSU’s bench boss, along with some foreshadowing into the psyche of how Serratore operates.
“I look back at that and think about that moment a lot,” Winter said. “He gave me the puck and congratulated me after the game, but in the heat of the moment, that’s just who Tom is. One of his best gifts as a coach is pushing and motivating his players. He’s so good at getting more out of his players than they think they have inside of them. He was coaching me and trying to make me better.”
It’s been two decades since Winter’s memorable teaching moment. Since then, Serratore hired him as an assistant. In that time, Serratore has coached the Beavers in three different conferences, two different home buildings and led hundreds of players through his program.
The 2025-26 Bemidji State season will be Serratore’s 25th at the helm. The Serratore name has not only become synonymous with the Beavers, but with all of college hockey.
“It’s incredible to think he’s been doing this for 25 years,” senior captain Kirklan Irey said. “Kudos to him; he’s worked his butt off ever since he joined this program as a player. I can’t say enough good things about him. He pushes his guys and gets the best out of them.”
Serratore,
played a pair of years with Minnesota State at the Division-II level before transferring to Bemidji State in 1984. He played two seasons with the D-III Beavers before graduating in 1987, immediately jumping into a coaching career at Brainerd High School.
Serratore spent four seasons as an assistant coach for the Warriors, eventually moving to Sibley to be a head coach for two seasons. It was the jumping-off point he needed to get back into college hockey.
St. Cloud State hired Serratore in 1993. He spent six seasons with the Huskies, where he worked with future coaching rival and now-longtime friend Mike Hastings, who went on to coach Minnesota State and Wisconsin, his current position.
“Tommy is one of the few guys I grew up with in coaching,” Hastings said. “Him, (Bob Motzko) Troy Jutting — we were all coming up together. When I had questions and when I felt unsure about myself, I called Tommy because I knew he’d been around and would say the right things I needed to hear.”
Legendary Bemidji State head coach Bob Peters hired Serratore — his former captain — as his assistant coach in 1999. After two seasons as an assistant, Serratore was promoted to head coach in 2001 when Peters retired.
Since then, Serratore hasn’t left. He manned the BSU ship through its transition to the Division-I level in the early 2000s. He took the Beavers to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2005, then to their first and only Frozen Four in 2009.
Every step of the way, as a D-I program, Serratore has been there.
Bemidji State head coach Tom Serratore hands the North Star College Cup to senior captain Matt Prapavessis (7) as Graeme McCormack looks on following their win No. 1 Minnesota State Saturday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Pioneer File Photo
“He bleeds it, and to do it, you have to be competent,” Hastings said. “And it’s not just being competent to one president or athletic director, but all of them. You have to be good at what you do to survive. I just don’t think you’re going to see that too often anymore. The amount of respect I have for somebody to do that at the level he’s done it, for that many years, it says a lot about him as a coach, a human being and a mentor. And he’s got a team you don’t want to play against.”
Only four other head coaches have a longer tenure than Serratore.
Rick Gotkin has been at the helm of Mercyhurst since the 1988-89 season. Gotkin announced he will retire at the conclusion of this upcoming season.
Rand Pecknold was hired by Quinnipiac in 1994. Former WCHA rival Scott Sandelin took over at Minnesota Duluth one year before Serratore arrived in 2001.
The last of the four is Frank Serratore at Air Force, who was hired in 1997.
“Frank and I talk about it on occasion,” Serratore said. “It’s been a good run for the Serratores. I’m proud of him and I know he’s proud of me.
“As far as coaching changes, there’s probably a lot of things that go into it. Part of it’s age. You have guys at the point in their lives where it’s time to retire. (Frank) hasn’t, and I’m sure not going to. But college sports isn’t easy anymore. … There’s a lot of moving parts to the world we’re in. From my standpoint, I’m excited about the world we’re in.”
There’s no debating that college hockey has changed in the last 25 years.
Beyond reinstated Canadian Hockey League eligibility, the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness opportunities for players, longevity is, at its core, about adaptation. For some coaches, evolution is unwelcome.
For Serratore, evolution is exciting.
“It’s great for me and it’s great for our program,” Serratore said. “I think it’s great for college hockey. To me, it’s almost like a new job. It’s not like Groundhog Day like in years past. It’s great to have a new player pool. We’re recruiting a little differently, and it’s unique. I’m fired up about it, our staff’s fired up about it and I think college hockey is fired up for it in general.”
His enthusiasm for change has a ripple effect throughout the program, whether it’s with existing seniors or incoming freshmen.
Bemidji State men’s hockey head coach Tom Serratore speaks during an unveiling ceremony for a bust of R.H. “Bob” Peters at the Sanford Center on Sept. 12, 2024, in Bemidji.
Madelyn Haasken / Bemidji Pioneer
“Being here only for a year — stepping into the program last year — he’s made a world of difference in my hockey career,” said senior Reilly Funk, who transferred from Northern Michigan. “Ever since I first talked to him, it’s so easy to have a conversation with him. He makes life around the rink fun every day, and that’s what you want out of your coach.”
“When I first came here, I wasn’t sure what to expect,” sophomore Isa Parekh said. “Just coming into a whole new situation as a freshman, it’s a little intimidating. But Tom’s the kind of guy who puts a smile on your face every day. He’s super energetic and caring. He gets into it. He’s an easy guy to have a conversation with, which is great as a player.”
Last season, BSU players celebrated Serratore’s latest milestone moment.
On Feb. 21, Bemidji State beat Bowling Green 3-2 at the Sanford Center. It was Serratore’s
He now sits with 403 heading into this season, which puts him 30th all-time among college hockey head coaches. Only Pecknold (591), Frank Serratore (521), Sandelin (469), Rico Blasi (446), Bob Motzko (437), Gotkin (424), Nate Leaman (418) and Guy Gadowsky (404) are currently coaching with more wins.
“All of the guys were super happy for him,” Parekh said. “At the end of the game, we all go into our little chat. We usually give out a player MVP, and we gave it to Tom that day. It was cool to see the smile on his face and how happy he was to reach that milestone. He treated it as another game, but it was cool to see just how happy we were to get a win.”
Of the eight active coaches who have all reached the 400-win milestone, only five of them have gotten all of them at one school. Not-so coincidentally, the five coaches were Gotkin, Sandelin, Pecknold and the Serratores.
Sooner or later, the five small-school iron men will coach their last games. They’ll give their final pregame speeches, make their final in-game adjustments and take their final walk through the postgame handshake line.
Bemidji State Head Coach Tom Serratore raises the MacNaughton Cup after the Beavers secured it with a 6-0 win over Minnesota State on March 1, 2024, at the Sanford Center.
Madelyn Haasken / Bemidji Pioneer
Coaches like Harvard’s Ted Donato, Robert Morris’ Derek Schooley and UMass-Lowell’s Norm Bazin could step in their places, who have each eclipsed at least 250 wins at one institution, cut from the same loyalty cloth donned by those who walked before them.
“Tommy always carries the green and white first,” Hastings said. “But even though he has the passion for the green and white, his barometer is always set on doing the right thing, even if it doesn’t benefit Bemidji State. That’s why I think he’s had the impact he’s had on college hockey. Think of some of the turmoil Bemidji State’s been through with the WCHA, the CHA and then the CCHA. Without a steady hand, who knows what happens?”
At the end of the 2024-25 campaign, Ferris State head coach Bob Daniels stepped down, making Serratore the CCHA’s longest tenured head coach. He has coached 13 more seasons than Lake Superior State’s Damon Whitten.
It’s a quarter-century career that’s garnered admiration from his peers.
“In all the times I’ve been sitting around a table having a coffee, a pop or a beer, there’s nobody I’ve met that doesn’t respect Tom Serratore for his coaching ability and the human being that he is,” Hastings said. “He’s so competitive. He and I have gotten into some arguments, whether it’s as opponents or working together in St. Cloud, but that’s just who he is. He’s so passionate. He’s what’s good about college hockey.”