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Nothing personal
Mark Hartigan has been the Huskies' scoring leader all season. His motivation? Not the Hobey. Not even the McNaughton Cup. For Hartigan, satisfaction will only come with a national championship.
 Media Credit: Michael Martin/Managing Editor Junior Mark Hartigan fires one of his numerous shots on goal during this season. The proposition 48 player is most likely headed to the pros following this season, and he would love to leave school as part of a national championship squad.
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It's 1:45 in the afternoon, the SCSU men's hockey team has practice in 45 minutes and Mark Hartigan is nowhere to be found.
There is a large contingent of Huskies in the locker room getting ready. There is another handful talking to the media outside the locker room about this weekend's upcoming series with Alaska-Anchorage at the National Hockey Center.
But where is Mark Hartigan?
The Huskies first real threat to win the Hobey Baker award is right where you wouldn't expect him to be before practice. Hartigan is on the ice, skating with the adult open hockey players who have gathered on this sunny mid-day to get in a good skate and share the ice with arguably the best player to ever don the cardinal and black sweater that hangs above his locker in the Huskies dressing room.
As he comes off the ice and plops down on the bench, removing his helmet to talk to the reporter who had been searching for him, he is asked a simple question.
Do you ever get sick of this?
"No way. You kidding me? This is way too much fun," he said as the sweat begins to drip down his face. "This is where I find my peace of mind."
Which, for Hartigan, might be the greatest gift anyone could ask for. How many people out there actually have the chance to love what they do more than anything else in their entire life? Add to that the payday he is sure to receive once his college days are done, and the kid appears to be sitting pretty.
"If I can keep doing this (playing hockey), life will be pretty good," he said. "Man, if I stay healthy, I'll play this game forever."
There are few athletes that pass through time with the passion for a sport that a guy like Hartigan possesses. The gifted ones have the skills. Some assume that things will just happen, and in some cases they do, but for others, for the Mark Hartigans, it's the hard work that makes things happen.
Here comes his coach, walking down the concourse of the NHC to do an interview with the television crew. He takes a look at the ice where his star is making the old-timers on the ice feel young once again, glances back and offers up an assumption.
"It's the hard work, the love," said SCSU head coach Craig Dahl. "It's all up to him and he's made his decision. He wants to work for it."
Dahl has been pacing the Husky bench for 15 years now. He has coached numerous players who have moved on from the college ranks to enjoy a career in professional hockey. But this guy might be his best.
"He sits right up at the top of that list," Dahl said. "He has made tremendous strides in the time that he has been here. I think his goal-scoring ability is amazing. Him and (Mark) Parrish are the two best that I have ever coached, that's for sure. And then his overall leadership abilities have been right up at the top. Those are some of the reasons you get into coaching, so you can be associated with guys like that."
And you can reap some of the benefits of their success. Hartigan needs only four goals in the Huskies' final five regular season games to pass Jeff Saterdalen on the school's all-time goal-scoring list. In his two-plus seasons with the Huskies, the team has made the NCAA tournament twice and is in an outstanding position to receive a top seed to this year's dance.
He remains a junior in the Huskies' game program and is a proposition 48 player, which basically means that the only way he could play for the Huskies next year is if he was on pace to graduate next spring, which he says he is not. This means that the next month and a half is it for Hartigan in Central Minnesota.
The team is still his top concern. Awards come second, maybe even third on the priority list. Even if it is the Hobey Baker.
"It's a nice achievement to be recognized, but beyond that it really doesn't matter," Hartigan said. "It's such a team game and for me to be where I am is because of the team around me."
"There are only a handful of guys around college hockey that think about the Hobey Baker," Hartigan said, "but everybody thinks about winning a national championship. If you win a championship, you get more credit than anything else and how great would that be?"
He said his teammates give him some grief for the national exposure that has come with the season he is having but to most of them, he is deserving of the recognition.
"He's the kind of guy where everyday you know he is going to do something great," said linemate Matt Hendricks. "There is at least one thing he is going to do great, whether it be at practice or in a game or in the locker room. The thing he realizes, though, is that he's not just playing for himself. He's playing for our team and he wants to win a national championship just as bad as anyone on our team."
Which is the ultimate goal of any college player. But wait, its 4:30 p.m. The team has just gone through a grueling Tuesday afternoon practice. Most of the Huskies are back in the locker room taking a breather.
But where is Mark Hartigan?
Right where you would expect him to be. On the ice, shooting pucks at the goalies. And he wouldn't have it any other way.
Around the Rink
- The injury bug just won't leave Jon Cullen alone. This time, it's his ribs. Dahl said he is questionable for this weekend's series.
- Joel Peterson will be held out of the lineup for the second consecutive weekend. He injured his shoulder in practice last week and has spent the majority of his time since then on the treadmill in the Huskies' training room.
- Moving on up, kind of. The Huskies moved back into the top-ranked position in the nation this week � in one poll. The USA Today poll had them tied for number one with New Hampshire. They remained number two behind Denver in the USCHO poll.
- Former Husky forward Tyler Arnason was called up by the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks on Monday. He was formerly at Nashville of the AHL. In his first game with the Hawks, Arnason skated 14 shifts in 10 minutes in the Hawks' 5-4 win over Florida.
Nick Clark can be reached at: [email protected]
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