I found this article in today's Red Star and Sickle, while I find it mildly interesting and entertaining, isn't Souhan jumping to conclusions a little prematurely? Neither teams season is over yet. Both teams could make the playoffs. On one hand Don Lucia recruits his own players and should take more of the blame for his teams demise than say Wild coach Jacques Lemaire who doesn't have much say about player moves and has been critical of GM Doug Risebrough in around about way. If anything the Wild owner should fire Doug Risebrough the minute the Wild have been eliminated from the playoff picture.
While I expect the rumors about Jacques Lemaire retiring after the end of the season to be true, I don't think this shouldn't come as a shock to anyone. Lou Nannie has been on record a few times saying that this will be Jacques last year of coaching as well. On the flip side of the equation I can't many scenarios where Don Lucia is getting fired. Not anytime in the near future. Probably not next year either. Unless; maybe if the Gophers miss the Final Five and the NCAA playoffs (they are hosting a regional) this season and fall flat on their noses next season.
Based on how well the Gophers have played against the SCSU Huskies this season, they are 4-0 against the Huskies, there is probably a good chance the Gophers make the Final Five. Win a couple of games at the Final Five and the Gophers move up in the PWR rankings and probably squeak in and make the NCAA tourney.
If the two previously mentioned scenarios happen the Gophers do not have a good season next year then maybe I could see the fans and alumni in Minneapolis getting a little antsy and pushing for tDon's head. Just for the record Jim Souhan isn't a regular hockey writer but his article does stir up the masses down in the Twin Cities Check out the comments from the
(Gopher and Wild fans).Clocks might be winding down on Lemaire, Lucia. The Wild coach is strongly hinting at retirement, while his Gophers counterpart is struggling to rise above mediocrity.
By JIM SOUHAN, Star Tribune
We thought we were set for life with our two big-time hockey coaches. We were wrong.
A couple of years ago Jacques Lemaire, the only coach in Wild history, and Don Lucia, winner of two national titles at the U, probably could have signed lifetime contracts. Today, locking up Lemaire might prove impossible, and locking up Lucia might be inadvisable.
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Not long ago, the Gophers' goal every season was to win the national title. This year, they seemed thrilled to beat Michigan Tech to secure a home series in the WCHA playoffs. "We're No. 5!" is not the chant we expect to hear from Gophers hockey fans.
Lucia was sidelined by an illness earlier this season. That, combined with his legacy, ensures that he'll receive the benefit of the doubt for at least another year.
He's earned that, but by next season, we'll be back to acknowledging that he possesses every conceivable advantage a college hockey coach can have. If he doesn't recruit or develop the best defensemen and goaltenders, if his players lack grit and regress during their college careers, if they leave for the pros because playing for the Gophers proved less than enthralling, he has no one to blame but himself.
"The Gophers have got to play a lot tighter, and they need good goaltending again or they're not going to advance," Nanne said. "If they play tighter in their own zone and get goaltending like they had earlier in the year and last year, they can make the NCAAs. If they don't, they're not going to advance."
Lemaire is probably as good as gone. Lucia has plenty of methods and resources with which to right his powerful program, but he might not have as much time as he thinks.
