Editor’s note: This is part two of a three-part series on the career of Minnesota State goaltender Alex Tracy.
MANKATO — Forever together. Never apart now.
Five words that ring true for any group that obtains some sort of success. For Minnesota State men’s hockey, it sums up the team that claimed the 2025 MacNaughton Cup and Mason Cup. By all accounts, that group will be forever together in some way, shape or form.
But by the summer of 2025, that group was separated. Eighteen familiar faces departed. A staggering 17 new faces walked through the door of the Don Brose Training Center.
How weird is it to welcome 17 new teammates into a locker room?
It’s a question that even the biggest sports enthusiast feels like they wouldn’t have the answer to. But MSU goaltender Alex Tracy does.
In fact, he was asked the question point blank.
Before answering, Tracy paused to think, ballcap briefly covering his eyes. He picked his head back up and gave his answer.
“I think it would’ve been weirder than it was if the mass exodus after my freshman year didn’t happen.”
The staggering turnover entering the 2025-26 season may phase some people. But not Tracy, nor fellow seniors Mason Wheeler and Campbell Cichosz.
They are the final three players that refused to leave MSU during the departure of former head coach Mike Hastings. This type of chaos entering their senior seasons was, to an extent, familiar.
“It was definitely such a weird experience,” Wheeler said. “(Leaving MSU) was never a thought that crossed our minds. This is our home.
“We want to win a national championship here.”
As was the temptation to chase an opportunity for a fresh start, along with a pretty penny from potential NIL money.
But Tracy’s mind was already made up.
“This was where I was going to be no matter what,” he said. “I had to prove that I could play at this level and at this program. What good is it going to be to jump in the portal, go to a different place and have to do that same exact thing somewhere else? Why not be at the place where I’ve been, the program that gave me a chance when not many other programs did for me coming out of juniors?
“I was indebted to this place from the moment I stepped on campus.”
There was never a doubt as to where Tracy would spend his college career. But who would be at the helm of that program, however, became a mystery.
So who was going to be the next leader to follow the man who led the winningest college hockey program in the last decade at that point?
On April 10, 2023, the answer arrived.
The Mavericks hired Ohio State assistant coach Luke Strand as its new head coach. Strand was coming off one season with the Buckeyes where he was the mastermind behind the nation’s top-ranked penalty kill unit (.887).
But to the observant hockey eye, Strand was more than an assistant coach for a Big Ten school. To Tracy, he was a familiar face — a player-coach relationship that was already forged.
“Me knowing him, him knowing me, that’s a relationship right away,” Strand said. “That matters instantly.”
The first run with Tracy and Strand began during the 2020-21 season with the Musketeers. At this point Tracy was the backup goalie. The man in front of him, well, was a polar opposite type of goalie.
Tracy spent a year behind Akira Schmid, who stands at a whopping 6-foot-5. He’s big. He’s long. He’s wide. It’s why Strand described him as “a door.”
Today, Schmid is playing with the Vegas Golden Knights. His highlight saves are easy to find on YouTube.
But in that season in Sioux City, Schmid was coming off hip surgery. Tracy was tasked with rotating starts in net while Schmid got to 100%.
At the same time it forced the Musketeers’ coaching staff, including goalie coach Shane Clifford, to coach each goalie as they needed to. Tracy couldn’t be coached like Schmid, and Schmid couldn’t be coached like Tracy.
As Strand explained, it squashed a tendency some goalies have to be a superstar by being something they’re not. Tracy, standing at 5-foot-8, couldn’t play like an imported door from Switzerland.
Tracy had to play like Tracy, the goalie Maverick fans have loved since he stepped foot on campus.
“(Tracy) stayed inside the window of what he was,” Strand said of Tracy in that period. “The way his business was then is the same as it is now. He’s obviously better at it now. He attacked practices. He attacked games. You couldn’t tell by his demeanor if he was the starter or not.”
Tracy ultimately grabbed the reins for Sioux City in the 2021-22 season. The Musketeers went 41-16-4-1. Tracy went 27-10-3 with a 2.50 goals against average and a save percentage of 0.896.
Then the postseason came along. It’s where the term “vintage Tracy” was born. He went 8-2 with a 1.59 goals against average and a save percentage of 0.937 with three shutouts, allowing a total of 16 goals while facing 253 shots.
In Game 4 of the Clark Cup finals, the Musketeers earned a 2-1 overtime win over the Madison Capitals to bring home the team’s first Clark Cup in 20 years. Strand and Tracy, along with MSU senior defenseman Ralfs Bergmanis, were champions.
“We have so many incredible people. It’s special to see them connected forever now,” Strand told reporters after the Clark Cup victory. “They’re the best teammates. They love each other. They love anything they do together. Forever together. Never apart now.”
Fast forward to a little over a year after that Clark Cup victory. After the first practice of his sophomore season with Strand at the helm, Tracy had a chance to take a step back and reflect on what just transpired.
He never envisioned Strand being his coach again after all of the success in Sioux City. Today, the reunion is in its third and final season.
“It’s been a special time,” Tracy said. “It’s been cool to see the ways that he’s evolved as a coach in terms of the way that he changed from coaching a junior team to coaching a college team. But then it’s also cool to see a lot of the drills that he does out there, the same ones that we did in Sioux City. It’s a good feeling knowing what to expect going into each practice and the way that he coaches, too.
“He’s an unbelievable coach and an unbelievable human being. I couldn’t be happier to be playing for him.”
Of course, similar to that first year in Sioux City, Tracy had to earn his time in the crease. He did earn the majority of time in net, starting 28 games with a record of 13-10-4, a goals against average of 2.50 and a save percentage of .910 with a pair of shutouts.
He shared time with Keenan Rancier, who went 5-5 with a 2.44 GAA and a save percentage of .910.
“I was too unselfish my first year here. I should have played Alex 95% of the games (that season) and I didn’t,” Strand said of his first season with the Mavericks. “I look back at that a lot, actually, because he handled it amazingly well. I think it really prepared him for last year into this year.”
Could Tracy’s resume be a little more padded with more time his sophomore season? Sure, hypotheticals can be debated day and night.
But it doesn’t change how Mankato feels about him. It doesn’t change his resume as it stands. It also doesn’t change his journey through college hockey as a goalie and a human being.
It also doesn’t change the way he views relationships, which helped the transition period with 17 new faces entering his senior season. To some it’s a time for panic. But for Tracy, it’s about the correct perspective.
“Those are 17 new people that you develop a lifelong relationship with,” Tracy said. “Once you get everyone’s names down and names to faces, we just started clicking right away. A lot of people see the hockey side of things. These guys we brought in are very talented hockey players. But they’re awesome dudes, as well. It’s been awesome building those relationships.”
But through all of the accolades, honors and achievements one big question remains: What does Tracy want his legacy to be?
He’s Mankato’s favorite adopted son. Someone who prioritizes relationships with anyone and everyone he crosses paths with. Not to mention his talent between the pipes.
Once again, he’s asked this point blank. And his answer was on par for Tracy.
Part three of this series will be available in print and online on Sunday, March 8.