Lucia defends Schack again

Gophers coach Don Lucia said Monday that Brian Schack crossed the line "a little bit" when he went after Minnesota State's Channing Boe during Friday's game in Mankato but also defended Schack by saying on his radio show Monday, "That’s not the way we like to play. But in some of our kids’ defense, Brian Schack included — and I’ve said it, at some point, we got to protect our own players, too. Brian did that and that’s to his credit."

Boe had checked Jay Barriball from behind when Schack chased him down and tackled him from behind, inciting some fisticuffs in the corner. Schack continued to pound on Boe who was lying defenseless on the ice before referee Todd Anderson finally broke it up. Somewhere in the pileup, Boe broke his leg and is out for the season.

"There were some vicious hits," Lucia said of the game. "The elbowing, the five-minute majors, the disqualifications, the checks from behind. It shouldn’t be part of the game. Especially — you don’t see it very often where the team that is winning like that is initiating some of the things that went on."

Apparently, the WCHA was reviewing the incident. We'll see if there will be any more punishment handed down tomorrow. Meanwhile, you can read more about it on Roman Augustoviz's blog here.