Mavericks player shaken after Pohl injury

As Tom Pohl recovers from a fractured skull, the Mankato player who checked him into the boards grapples with pain of his own.

By ROMAN AUGUSTOVIZ, Star Tribune

Last update: March 19, 2008 - 12:02 AM

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Minnesota State Mankato hockey player Jason Wiley is having a hard time coping with how serious Tom Pohl's injuries are, WCHA Commissioner Bruce McLeod said on Tuesday.

Wiley elbowed Pohl in the head early in the second period of the Gophers' 3-2, double-overtime victory over the Mavericks on Sunday night in the deciding game of their first-round WCHA playoff series.

Pohl, a senior forward, lost his helmet and appeared to hit his head on top of the low sideboards in front of the Gophers' bench. After being flown from Mankato to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester, Pohl underwent surgery for bleeding on the brain and a skull fracture.

"I do know [Wiley] is devastated by the whole thing," McLeod said. "I've talked to Troy Jutting and Kevin Buisman, and they're trying to do everything they can for him. ... [Wiley] is suffering in his own way."

Jutting is the Mavericks' hockey coach, and Buisman is the athletic director. Jutting visited Pohl on Tuesday, McLeod said.

A spokesperson for the Mayo Clinic, of which St. Marys is a part, said Pohl was moved out of the intensive care unit Tuesday. His condition is still listed as fair, which means a patient's vital signs are stable and within normal limits, and the prognosis is favorable.

McLeod said he viewed the play in which Pohl was injured from several different angles. "When you see the whole thing," McLeod said, "you see the head, you see the helmet come off and you see what happens -- you see him go limp, it's very scary."

Wiley, a sophomore forward who played for Bloomington Kennedy, received a major penalty and a game disqualification. McLeod said Wiley certainly was trying to check Pohl. But Pohl's head seemed to be down a little bit, McLeod said, and it did not appear to be a malicious hit.

Members of Pohl's family, who are with him in Rochester, have declined media interviews.

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