Fraters Libertas

Wild Wacky Stuff

If you haven't had a chance to catch the video of Tyler Hirsch crashing the net after the Gophers were shut out by Colorado College in their WCHA Final Five semifinal game on March 18th, you can check it out here. Hirsch has not played since the incident and his status for the Frozen Four in Columbus remains unclear.

Gopher coach Don Lucia will be participating in a live web chat today at 10am (CT) hosted by CollegeSports.com. You have to think that a question or two will come up regarding Hirsch.

(Thanks to Scott for the video tip.)

UPDATE: Patrick e-mails with a possible explantion for Hirsch's antics:

I heard [Patrick] Reusee say on [Joe] Souchery's radio show that Tyler had been benched on the power play in the third period and when Tyler asked the coaches why he was benched and was told "because he wasn't going to the net." Well he seems to have taken care of that. Makes the video make a lot more sense.

It's one of the oldest, yet truest cliches in hockey, "You HAVE to go to the net."

During today's web chat, Lucia sounded optimistic about Hirsch playing in the Frozen Four:

Coach Lucia: I think right now there is a good chance Tyler will play in the Frozen Four. We have closely monitored his situation over the last week and will continue to do that. He is getting better every day. Coming back to practice last week was great for Tyler and great for our team. We will continue to give him support with the hope that he will be in our lineup for the Frozen Four, but that will probably not be decided until late this week or this upcoming weekend.

Meanwhile, defenseman Alex Goligoski's status is not yet known:

Sarah (Saint Paul): Will Alex Goligoski be playing in the Frozen Four?

Coach Lucia: It is too early to tell. He will resume practice later this week, but we will probably not make a determination on his status until gameday.

Getting Hirsch and Goligoski back would definitely help the Gophers power play, which was anemic last weekend (0 for 15) in the West Regional games. I have a hunch that we won't have to worry about Hirsh going to the net again.