Haycraft preps for 1st season as HC

ABOVE: Aaron Haycraft

FAIRMONT – Aaron Haycraft will take the lead of the Fairmont Cardinals girls hockey team this season in his first year as the team’s varsity head coach.

The Fairmont native has a long history with the hockey association in Fairmont and is continuing to build his legacy as he continues his coaching career.

Aaron Haycraft, a former Cardinals hockey player, moved on to college athletics after he graduated from Fairmont High School in 2001, playing baseball at the University of Sioux Falls. After his college career, he went on to serve his country in the U.S. military for 10 years before finding himself back home in Fairmont in 2015.

The former multi-sport athlete cited that his favorite sport was hockey, but he bounced around between seasons and always kept busy.

“We didn’t play stuff year-round,” said coach Haycraft. “It was whatever season it was. If it was baseball season, that was your favorite sport. If it was hockey season, that was your favorite sport. Football, that was your favorite sport. We didn’t do this stuff long-term. … I moved back here and I got involved with the association with my two daughters playing.”

Aaron Haycraft began his coaching career in Fairmont by offering to help where he saw room for improvement in the program. He then found himself working in 8U development for the Fairmont Youth Hockey Association. After his first year, he moved up in age ranges and joined the board and continued to work on further development of the program.

“I’ve been a coach from 8U,” said coach Haycraft. “Started our first 8U girls program. … I’ve been 10U, 12U, started our first 15U program. I could go on and on about girls hockey. We’ve won numerous girls hockey awards that are recognized by the state … in the last six, seven years, which is a team effort on everybody in the association, not obviously just me, but team effort. But if you want me to be honest, girls hockey in Fairmont is growing at a huge rate. I’m telling you, it’s super fun to be a part of. It’s growing at a huge rate.”

Passionate about the sport, coach Haycraft, along with several hockey families in the area, have a focus on player development and fostering a love for hockey, always looking to improve players every time they touch the ice.

“We play in the spring,” said coach Haycraft. “We find ice in Albert Lea, in New Ulm, in Mankato, and we buy it and we skate in the offseason. We join tournaments in the summer and we play. Like New Ulm does, like Luverne does, like Marshall does, which are our top teams in our section.”

Stepping away as a player and finding his home as a coach, the cycle has come full circle for Haycraft from player to coach. Now passing down a love of the game to his children, coach Haycraft will now look to build the girls varsity team up in any way he can this season.

“These kids need to be highlighted,” said coach Haycraft. “I think that goes a long way in building our program. You want to get this thing built up high and as many kids as you can get playing. Yeah, kind of go from there, and then we develop them and have fun watching hockey.”

The Fairmont girls opened the season with a pair of road games, one at Mankato West and one at New Prague. The season opener at Mankato West on Nov. 8 ended in a 5-3 loss for the Cardinals. Joslyn Meyer, Carly Gustafson and Kynlee Beemer each scored a goal for Fairmont in that game, with Harper Artz and Alexis Haycraft each adding an assist. Ilana Moeller had 32 saves.

In a 3-0 shutout of New Prague on Nov. 12, Fairmont got two goals from Mariel Parish and one from Lauren Bettin. Alexis Haycraft, Avery Kurt and Halyn Haycraft each had an assist. Alexis Sundeen stopped all 17 shots in net for the Cardinals to preserve her shutout.

The Cardinals host Waseca at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in the home opener.