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It's a feel-good story: a lifelong Wild fan gets a shot at living out a dream to play for the home-town team. And it's a story with one overriding theme: Sam Hentges never stopped believing in himself.
It's why he is playing and contributing at St. Cloud State as a freshman this season after joining the USHL last year as a low-round pick. It's why he reached his goal of playing for a top-tier college program in Minnesota despite trying out for the Select 15, 16 and 17 teams and having only one selection as an alternate to show for it.
Hentges, who played high school hockey at Totino-Grace, not only wanted to play at an elite level; he believed in his heart that he was good enough to do it. So he pressed on, despite the setbacks.
"I used it as motivation," Hentges said. "If I didn't, I would have quit a long time ago."
Those setbacks might have taken more of a toll on Mark and his wife, Sally.
"When he finished high school he said he was going make it in the USHL," Mark Hentges said, "and we were very supportive. But (my wife and I) would have side conversations and wonder if it was possible. You never want to doubt your kid, but you don't want him to get hurt."
Mark Hentges coached his son up to the age of 12, and along with teaching him the game he grew up playing, he tried to prepare Sam for the ups and downs that he was sure to experience.
"He always told me that it was a marathon and not a sprint," Sam Hentges said. "My dad was cut from teams just like I was. You just have to work that much harder."
Mark Hentges had some impressive accomplishments on the ice of his own. He had a standout career as a center at the University of St. Thomas, but not before being cut from the team as a freshman. Hentges played his senior season in 1981, the same year the Hobey Baker Memorial Award was created to select and honor the top player in men's college hockey.
Hentges was named one of the 10 finalists for the award, which eventually went to University of Minnesota center Neal Broten, who would go on to have a standout career with the Minnesota North Stars.
The recognition led to Hentges being invited to play in a couple of college all-star games. He then signed a contract with the Montreal Canadiens and played two seasons for the Canadiens' AHL affiliate in Halifax before deciding to move on from the game.
"Sometimes in life you bump into a wall and decide that it's time to do something else," said Mark Hentges, who in 1989 was enshrined in the St. Thomas athletics Hall of Fame. "I had a great experience; it was just enough."
And sometimes you bump into that wall and find a way to get around it.
Sam Hentges always possessed good speed, but at the age of 12 he decided to do what he could to take it to the next level. He took part in the Minnesota Advanced Placement program, which counts the Wild's Mike Reilly among alumni who have gone on to play in the NHL.
Speed is now one of Sam's calling cards.
"He's a very good skater, and he can make plays while moving," Wild Director of Player Development Brad Bombardir said. "And he likes getting on pucks quickly. Those three things led to our having an interest. That is the kind of player we are looking for. He fell off a little because of the injury, so I'm sure there were some teams that moved on from him."
Bombardir has been impressed with Hentges' play this season. "He joined one of the top college hockey programs in the country right now," Bombardir said, "so it was going to be a challenge to Sam to find a spot right away. But he came in and forced his way into that lineup.
"He spent most of the summer rehabbing his shoulder. He wasn't cleared for contact until the end of August. He missed a whole summer of training and getting stronger. He still has a young body to him."
As Bombardir pointed out, first-year SCSU coach Brett Larson didn't exactly know what he was inheriting in Hentges, but he, too, has been impressed with the way he has adapted to the college game.
"Sam has been having a very good freshman year for us," Larson said. "He is a very versatile player who has seen action at both center and wing, and he has been getting time for us on our second power-play unit. He has shown great development throughout the year."
Mark and Sally Hentges have been regulars at SCSU games this season and have one favorite story they like to tell family and friends.
"During one of their first games, coach Larson was getting on Sam for something," Mark Hentges said. "And Sam is just smiling. So coach Larson goes, 'What are you smiling about?' Sam said, 'Coach, I'm playing Division I hockey at St. Cloud State. It just doesn't get any better than this.'
"Brett just laughed."
SCSU is one of the elite teams in college hockey this season and all but a lock to take part in the NCHC's Frozen Faceoff at Xcel Energy Center on March 22-23. It should prove to be Hentges' first chance to play at the Wild's home venue; he never made it to the state tournament while playing at Totino-Grace.
Should he get the chance, he knows he will not only be representing SCSU and the Wild, but also those players who live with the trappings of being the underdog but don't let it deter them.
"I always dreamed of one day playing in the NHL and I have worked hard to do everything I could to try to get there," Hentges said. "Now that I have been drafted, I'm focused on doing everything I can to make the Wild. But that's still a few years away. I just have to try to get better every day."
