Division I hockey fans have spent most of this season scouring the usual sources for wins and losses, trying to psychically will the 2020-21 season back onto the rails. It’s been a frustrating ride, with seemingly as many games tabled as have actually been played. In a season full of dead ends, there has been one notable exception, and it comes from a tiny Division III school (enrollment 1,650) in southernmost Michigan. At this writing, outlier Adrian College has played more games against WCHA opponents (four) than any of the WCHA member schools. Adrian’s DI opportunity is largely due to the boundless contact list on head coach Adam Krug’s cell phone.

Krug comes from Michigan hockey royalty: his dad coached three sons through metro Detroit’s elite AAA travel hockey, all of them advancing to college puck. The youngest, Michigan State product Torey Krug, blossomed into a three-time NHL All-Star. Adam is the oldest, and has no more than one degree of separation from every hockey lifer in the Midwest. Krug’s rink relationships have paid off handsomely this season, as he has cobbled together an impressive early-season schedule for Adrian. 

During this turbulent offseason, Bowling Green’s Ty Eigner was looking for non-conference games within an easy bus ride. He picked up the phone and called Krug. 

“I’ve known Ty since he played at BGSU when I was seven years old,” said Krug. 

Turns out that one of Eigner’s most trusted Falcon teammates, Brett Harkin, billeted with the Krug family when he played for AAA Compuware. One degree of separation, an hour bus ride between schools, and suddenly DIII Adrian is the official opener for both BGSU and FloHockey. Despite getting swept with a minus-nine goal differential in the home-and-home series, Adrian did not embarrass itself.

“At times we were able to hang in there with them,” said Krug. “There were even some shifts that we took it to them. We missed some Grade-A chances that maybe could have kept those scores a little closer.”

On Monday of Thanksgiving week, the unwelcome COVID-19 alarm sounded once again in the WCHA, this time from Big Rapids; a positive test turned up within the Ferris State program. Following a thorough investigation, Ferris canceled their Thanksgiving weekend series with Lake Superior. Lakers coach Damon Whitten had a hot club after its quasi-sweep over Michigan Tech (one of the wins came via shootout) and was eager to fill the gap despite the short notice. Suddenly Krug’s hotline was lighting up once again.

“Damon Whitten and I have a long relationship, we’ve always talked about the potential of Adrian playing Lake State,” said Krug. “Damon called and asked if we’d be interested in playing, and I said, ‘Absolutely we’d be interested!’”

This time Adrian gave their DI foe all they could handle, dropping the home-and-home set by 5-3 and 2-1 margins. 

“Very competitive,” said a relieved Whitten after the opener. “Give them a lot of credit for the way they played. They came hard, dictated some time, a very aggressive team. Helps us become a better team.”

Laker fans should consider themselves lucky. Another one of Krug’s pals, former Adrian coach Ron Fogarty, got a deep burn when his Princeton Tigers — the reigning ECAC Champs — were de-clawed by the Krug’s Bulldogs 3-2. 

“It wasn’t banner-raising night, it was an exhibition game,” said Krug of the 2018 season opener, a glorified scrimmage that still brings him joy. “To go in there and squeak out a win, that was definitely a memory I’ll always have for my career and I’m sure for our players, they’ll never forget that either.”

Four Division I games, as well as two clashes with the neighboring National Team Development Program, have greatly expanded the awareness of Adrian College in all parts of the hockey world. Especially for the St. Louis Blues’ brightest new star. 

“Torey always follows, it’s pretty cool for me to have a brother in the National Hockey League,” said Adam with pride. “He’s getting ready to move to St. Louis, boxing up stuff, but he had both our games on TV this past weekend against Lake State. He provides some good feedback; he was pretty impressed with what we were able to do.”

In a season already ruptured by the pandemic, Adrian hockey presses on. 

“We have to use this opportunity to get better,” said Krug. “There’s other things at stake here, like the mental health of our youth. We have to do everything we can to get these kids on the field. It’s the one place they can get away and it really feels back to normal.”

And there are the obvious benefits of playing all these high-profile games. 

“I assume it’s going to help us tremendously in recruiting going forward,” said Krug. “And whenever DIII hockey does start back up, we’ll be a better team for it.”

Tim Rappleye is the author of two books: Jack Parker's Wiseguys and Hobey Baker, Upon Further Review. You can find him on Twitter.