Mankato native has sights set on reaching the NHL ... in another way

MANKATO -- It's after midnight on Wednesday night/Thursday morning and Mark Breiter is working deep inside the bowels of the Mayo Clinic Health System Events Center, the home arena of both the Minnesota State men's and women's hockey programs.
Breiter, a 23-year-old senior in his final semester as an undergrad at MSU, is the only man in the barn, finishing up the half dozen or so pairs of skate blades he had left to sharpen. He was down here earlier in the afternoon, serving double duty as the head equipment manager for the MSU women's team and assisting men's equipment manager Scott Rideout.

He was here first thing in the morning to begin that job, before racing home for his Spanish class over Zoom. The noise emanating from the commercial sized washer and dryer, as well as the constant hum of the skate sharpener isn't conducive to remote class, so he drives five minutes up the hill to his place just off campus to get his lecture done.
After that, he's back downtown to the arena to work the afternoon shift, sharpening skates, repairing equipment, setting up the dressing room and prepping for a busy weekend ahead.
Temperatures in Mankato are well below zero and he's gotta figure out how to equip his players with the correct warm gear for Thursday's practice outside (which would end up being cancelled because of sub-zero temps), as well as the weekend series against in-state rival St. Thomas.
He's also got a game to officiate at Blakeslee Stadium, site of Hockey Day Minnesota. The event, which officially kicks off Saturday morning, unofficially kicked off Wednesday night when the Mankato East and West girls played in front of some hearty - and frozen - fans at Blakeslee Stadium.
It's Breiter, a Mankato native and former JV hockey player at Mankato East, who would literally drop the puck on the evening's festivities and what promises to be a milestone weekend in this city, which will be the first one south of the Twin Cities to host a Hockey Day.
It's a moment that didn't go unnoticed by Breiter, who has lived and died with the sport since he went to his first Mavericks game as a five year old, catching a puck from then-collegian David Backes.
Backes, who would go on to a decade-plus-long career in the NHL and play in two Olympics, is the reason why Breiter is a St. Louis Blues fan.
He's also a driving forced behind Breiter's own NHL dream: to one day make it to the show as an equipment manager.
There's no course at MSU to help Breiter on his way and there's no set path an equipment guy takes to reach the highest level of hockey. So Breiter is taking the best path he can; by working as hard as he can, as much as he can, while learning as much as he can ... and doing it all with a smile on his face.
"I'm a rink rat, and I don't take it for granted because I've seen guys have this job and their team shuts down," Breiter said, alluding to Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh. "I try and soak it in because I don't know where I'll end up next year. I might be gone, so I'm trying to cherish everything, especially with Hockey Day. I think it's so cool that we're a part of that."
Breiter would love to stay another year and stick with some of the same players he's been around for three or four years now. But his job is a "student" assistant, and that Spanish lecture he ran home for accounts for three of the final 17 credits he's taking this semester before graduating this spring.

"I have no desire to go to grad school or anything, so I'm gonna try and get a full-time spot somewhere," Breiter said. "We'll see what happens, but I'll try to get into the ECHL or even the USHL and try and develop more down there.
"But it's hard, honestly. I try not to think about it because it's a little sad. This is all I've ever known is Mankato. But I feel like, in my heart, in order to get to where I want to go, which is the NHL, I need to leave at some point."
Breiter has the attitude part of the job down. He loves his job, and it shows in the quality of his work. When he first interviewed for the assistant job as an 18-year-old kid just arriving on campus as a freshman, he didn't know much. But years of tutelage under Rideout has provided him with a great base of knowledge, and a couple of "trophies" to show off.
Like NHLers, some of the women he serves can be pretty particular about their equipment, some of which they have used since they were mites or pee-wees. On one occasion, the stitching on a hard plastic shell of an elbow pad broke free and wedged into a player's forearm, causing four stitches.
From the equipment side, the shell of her beloved piece of gear was a complete mess, so he had to think fast. He went over to the medical room and got a piece of hard plastic cast and cut it to fit, sewing it into place and creating, essentially, a retrofitted elbow pad that has (most importantly to the equipment guy) the same protective qualities, while also maintaining (most importantly to the player) the same comfortable feel.
It's the kind of job guys in the Wild's equipment room in St. Paul are tasked with on a daily basis.
"He's taught me everything I know," Breiter said of Rideout. "When I came down here, I didn't know how to fold a towel. Sewing, sharpening, Scott taught me all of it. Even five years in, I come in and he's teaching me something new every day."
The soon-to-be Mass Communications graduate has started at the bottom of the equipment managing ladder and is more than happy to do whatever it takes to work his way to the top.
If that means sharpening skates at almost one in the morning, so be it. He'd be back six hours later to finish prepping before heading back up to Blakeslee to serve as equipment manager for the women's practice there. He'll be with the women in Mendota Heights on Friday night when they play St. Thomas, but he'll be back at Blakeslee this weekend, tagging along and doing whatever he can to assist Rideout on Saturday when the Maverick and Tommie men square off, before serving as the head man when the two schools have a rematch in Mankato on Sunday.
His presence at Wednesday's start and Sunday's finale will serve as bookends to a spectacular week of Hockey and a memorable week for Breiter, who will be at Blakeslee, working one job or another, four of the five scheduled days.
After reffing the East-West girls game on Wednesday, he'd be up there for equipment duties for practices on Thursday, serving as an assistant equipment man for the MSU men in their game on Saturday before running the show on the equipment side for the women's game against the Tommies on Sunday.
It's a schedule that won't allow him much time to sit back, relax and enjoy the hockey smorgasbord that has come to his hometown.
"I just love being at the rink, around the players and coaches. It's a fraternity," Breiter said. "I wouldn't trade this experience for anything."
Main photo courtesy of David Faulkner/SPX Sports