Next season will be Don Lucia's 25th as a head coach. He has been at Minnesota since the 1999-2000 season, so. next season will be his 13th at Minnesota, his 18th in the WCHA.
Still no word yet on his contract extension, which athletic director Joel Maturi promised to give him shortly after this season ended.
"I have been fortunate enough to be part of a lot of successes," Lucia said on WCCO radio last month. "Obviously, you are going to have some disappointments along the way. This [losing to Alaska Anchorage in the first round of the playoffs] was a disappointment. It is almost like you get your heart ripped out.
"But you always have to self-reflect and look at yourself in the mirror first and analyze, first of all, what can I do to be better and second what can we do as a staff. And that's in the weight room and everything else we do in our program, recruiting, to get better."
Lucia said he still has great passion for coaching. "The previous couple years when I was sick, obviously it was a very difficult time for me to have the energy," he said. "But this year showed me more than ever that I enjoyed the practice. I enjoyed watching this team grow. I enjoyed watching them overcome.
"I felt good about where we were from the start of the year to the end of the year playing a lot of young guys. We made great improvement and that's what you want to see as a coach. ... Unfortunately, we didn't have success that first round of the playoffs and that ultimately cost us."
Comments: Lucia had great success in his third and fourth seasons at the U, winning NCAA titles in 2002 and '03. The Gophers were still a force in college hockey through the 2006-07. That season ended with them beating North Dakota to win the Final Five, but losing to the Sioux in a region final a week later.
Since then the Gophers have finished seventh, fifth, seventh and fifth in the WCHA.