It's no longer breaking news and I've been chewing on it for a while, but ultimately I am not surprised by this move and Don Lucia really shouldn't be either. You got the sense last season and especially Saturday when Lofquist was replaced by Brian Schack in the lineup that Lucia is just simply not a Sam Lofquist fan. Gophers fans never got a true opportunity or a full season to evaluate the play of Lofquist but by all accounts he played hard and physical but had his limitations handling the puck and at times seemed to take too many penalties. So for the clear reason that Lucia seemed to be more critical of Lofquist than other players I am not surprised by his decision to leave the university.
As much as I would hope that a kid would stick it out and earn the coach's trust over time I know that quite simply that's just not the way it works. It happens in any sport, but I think it's a little more evident in hockey if not only because Minnesota has more D1 and professional players than any other sport by far so we see it more here locally. Players who end up at the U are typically some of the nation's best and therefore have professional hockey aspirations and are very focused on their own personal goals. The right combination would be for athletes to come to the school for the great opportunity to wear the "M" and try to win championships with an opportunity to play professionally when it's all done. That's not the case now with players more than often concentrating on personal goals while playing for the Gophers. That may seem like a negative opinion of the kids and the program, but I'd argue that it's just a realistic observation shared by many.
Most of the kids who end up playing for Don Lucia left a high school program early and have bounced around to several teams hoping to play at the highest level possible. None of them have ever been in the situation to fight for playing time. Recruiting for the Gophers may be easy in the sense that it doesn't take much to get the region's top players interested in the program. The challenge is that the top players are looking to move on as quickly as possible and the ones fighting for playing time are more likely to look for the playing time elsewhere than exercise patience and put in the work to earn the ice time. Graduation is only one of a few reasons players careers come to an end for the Gophers and thus Lucia has to be on the top of his game in managing all of this.
There is so much to think and talk about regarding the Gophers program that this will probably be an open dialogue for quite some time...
As much as I would hope that a kid would stick it out and earn the coach's trust over time I know that quite simply that's just not the way it works. It happens in any sport, but I think it's a little more evident in hockey if not only because Minnesota has more D1 and professional players than any other sport by far so we see it more here locally. Players who end up at the U are typically some of the nation's best and therefore have professional hockey aspirations and are very focused on their own personal goals. The right combination would be for athletes to come to the school for the great opportunity to wear the "M" and try to win championships with an opportunity to play professionally when it's all done. That's not the case now with players more than often concentrating on personal goals while playing for the Gophers. That may seem like a negative opinion of the kids and the program, but I'd argue that it's just a realistic observation shared by many.
Most of the kids who end up playing for Don Lucia left a high school program early and have bounced around to several teams hoping to play at the highest level possible. None of them have ever been in the situation to fight for playing time. Recruiting for the Gophers may be easy in the sense that it doesn't take much to get the region's top players interested in the program. The challenge is that the top players are looking to move on as quickly as possible and the ones fighting for playing time are more likely to look for the playing time elsewhere than exercise patience and put in the work to earn the ice time. Graduation is only one of a few reasons players careers come to an end for the Gophers and thus Lucia has to be on the top of his game in managing all of this.
There is so much to think and talk about regarding the Gophers program that this will probably be an open dialogue for quite some time...
2 comments:
I thought they should have played him more. I wonder if there was some kind of beef with he and Lucia beause he seemed to play fine.
Sam was a beast. The Gophers are weaker without him.
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