One of the most respected names in Minnesota hockey, Mike MacMillan teams up again with Cory Laylin for his eighth season as an assistant coach during the 2021-22 academic year. MacMillan came to Hamline at the same time that Laylin did, before the 2014-15 season. The two first paired up as co-head coaches at Buffalo High School more than a decade ago.
This is MacMillan's first experience at the college level, but that is about the only level he hasn't coached at in more than 20 years on the bench.
MacMillan actually started his coaching career while he was still a student at UW-Stout. He served as an assistant at Menominee High School. From there, he went on to be the lead assistant and youth development director at New Ulm for seven seasons. The Eagles made the MSHSL state tournament in 1992.
MacMillan then moved to Buffalo where he was an assistant for two years before taking over the reins in 1995-96. His prep colleagues thought so highly of him that he was given the nod to run several section and state teams as part of the Minnesota Player Development Festivals. As head coach of Minnesota's 16 team, his teams won a pair of national 16 festivals.
In 2001, he was named the winner of the Dave Peterson Award, given annually to a "high school coach who has shown great leadership in developing youth hockey either locally or statewide." Peterson, a member of Hamline's Athletic Hall of Fame, coached two Olympic and three national teams after a long and successful prep career at Minneapolis Southwest. MacMillan is also a member of the Buffalo Hockey Hall of Fame.
Since 2006, Mike has served as Executive Director of the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association.
For the past quarter century, he has been closely involved in USA Hockey, currently holding the position of USA Hockey National Coach-in-Chief. In addition to serving as a coach/counselor at US Hockey National Development camps and being on a myriad of committees, MacMillan served as the head coach for the USA National Sled Development team from 2011 to 2018. That team is used to prepare players for the national Sled team. In 2014, Team USA won the Gold Medal Game against Russia in the Paralympics.
In 2019, he was honored by USA Hockey, being given the John “Snooks” Kelley Award. The award is named after the long-time head coach at Boston College who was the first college hockey coach to win 500 games and honors coaches who have contributed to the overall growth and development of the sport of ice hockey in the United States. In addition to this prestigious honor, MacMillan has been a two-time recipient of the USA Hockey Presidents Award and in 2011 was awarded the Minnesota Hockey Presidents Award.
MacMillan is a founding member of the Hendrickson Family Foundation which supports disabled hockey (Sled, Special, and Wounded Warrior) in Minnesota.
