The Crookston Pirate Boy’s and Girl’s Hockey Programs have a new skate sharpener courtesy of the Hastings family. The sharpener is donated in honor of Lloyd “Butch” Hastings. Butch’s daughter Sandy Lindtwed said that when Hastings passed away the family wanted to do something in his memory. “My mom and dad have been part of Crookston for many, many years,” said Lindtwed. “Both my mom and dad worked at Strata Concrete here in Crookston and they always supported the Pirate Community and Pirate Athletics. So, when my dad passed away, we just really wanted to do something in his memory. I talked to Mr. (Greg) Garmen and asked if there was something that the coaches would like. That was brought up and we moved forward with it. Of course, my brother being in the hockey field as well, he made it happen.”
Marlene Hastings, Butch’s widow, said the family always wanted to make a donation in memory of Butch to the hockey program. “We always wanted to make it to the hockey program, we always did,” said Hastings. “Sandy called (Greg) Garmen and asked what and where it could be donated. They came up with this skate sharpener. So, our son (Mike Hastings) decided that he would go for it and then he’s got to do the high-end one. It’s got to be a good one or not at all so that’s what we did. We wanted to donate something to the hockey program that would be in his honor and would last a long time.”
Lindtwed’s brother, Butch’s son, Mike is the coach for the Minnesota State University Mavericks Hockey team, currently the #1 ranked college hockey team in the nation. Lindtwed said moving to Crookston was the start of a hockey family, as neither she nor her brother had ever skated before moving to town. “When we moved here, I was in sixth grade, Mike was in first grade, and neither one of us had ever put on a pair of skates,” said Lindtwed. “Mike put on a pair of skates and he never stopped skating.”
Hastings said hockey became a big part of the Hastings family’s lives when they moved to Crookston. “It did become a big part of our lives,” said Hastings. “We went to a lot of games. When Mike went to the juniors, we went to a lot of games up and down the road. It was a great time and the people we met along the way has been just wonderful.”
Lindtwed said her parents put on many miles traveling to watch hockey. “My mom and dad both grew and graduated from Larimore High School,” said Lindtwed. “My dad was very athletic, but not in hockey. Hockey wasn’t really a thing back then. When we came here, and Mike put on a pair of skates that really was the start of hockey in our family. He never stopped and continued going on. When he was done with high school he went into juniors, so they traveled every weekend to watch him play. They put on many, many miles to see their son play. To this day, if they were both here, they’d both tell you there wasn’t a minute they didn’t love it.”
