KO is gone in Minnesota

All I can say that I am a little shocked that Kyle Okposo would leave his team in the middle of the hockey season. Can you at least wait till the end of the season? I also think that leaving his team during the middle of a season lacks class. For me; lets just say that its a character issue. I can't imagine how his team mates feel. Seriously, if I was one of the Gopher players on the WJC with Kyle Okposo and knew that my team mate walked out on the team, I wouldn't be all that happy with him. I might not spend a lot of time talking with him.

During the summer months I was surprised that Okposo even came back after his freshman season. There were a lot of rumblings about him signing a professional contract. Many of us in the blogsphere were predicting that Kyle Okposo would be gone and never make it back to the U of MN. Wrongly, I a few soles called me out for predicting that Kyle would sign a professional contract, however, it seems that when it was all said and done, I was pretty close to being right on. The only thing that was stopping him from signing a professional contract was that his professional team didn't want him at the time. Why the sudden change? I am assuming the 30 game suspension to Chris Simon is probably a major factor. My only question to Okposo is if he wasn't happy in Minnesota; why didn't this kid just didn't go play Major Junior hockey like the Islanders originally wanted him to?

Here is the Story from Newsday:

Kyle Okposo, the top prospect in the Islanders' system, has left the University of Minnesota and is in the process of negotiating an entry-level contract with the Islanders, the team acknowledged in a statement Wednesday.

"We're extremely excited about the possibility of Kyle joining our organization soon," general manager Garth Snow said in the statement. "He's a great talent, one of the most exciting prospects in the game. Kyle has the dedication and character we want for our franchise."

The 19-year-old winger from St. Paul was the Islanders' first-round selection and seventh overall in the 2006 NHL draft. .Okposo had 40 points (19 goals and 21 assists) in 40 games for the Golden Gophers as a freshman, but he struggled this season after coach Don Lucia put him at center. In 18 games, Okposo totaled six goals and five assists for 11 points, and he had a team-worst minus-9 rating.

Don Lucia isn't happy with the Islanders:

At a news conference Wednesday to announce Okposo had dropped out, Lucia hinted at meddling by the Islanders, saying, "It is unfortunate that the Islanders put him in a very difficult position."

Okposo not happy with former coach:

But Okposo previously indicated to local reporters that he was unhappy playing for Lucia.