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U's Tom Pohl says he’s lucky, not bitter after skull fracture

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

Gophers player Tom Pohl was all smiles as he showed off his stitches and a shiner while speaking publicly for the first time since suffering a severe head injury in a first-round WCHA playoff game in Mankato earlier this month.

By ROMAN AUGUSTOVIZ, Star Tribune

Last update: March 25, 2008 - 11:38 PM

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NCAA MEN'S HOCKEY TOURNAMENT

First round: Gophers vs. Boston College, 6:30 p.m. Saturday • Worcester, Mass. • TV: FSN, ESPNU (830-AM)

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RED WING, MINN. — Tom Pohl feels lucky, not bitter. At age 23, Pohl said Tuesday that he has been given a second chance at having a normal life.

Only nine days earlier, he was as scared as he has ever been. Before his brain operation at one of the Mayo Clinic hospitals in Rochester, doctors were telling Pohl what could happen, outlining the best- and worst-case scenarios.

"I am a lucky guy to be where I am today, it's like a rebirth," said Pohl, talking to a roomful of media members at his father's home. "Right before the surgery was the scariest time in my life."

Pohl slept for a long time after the surgery, then slowly became alert. "To wake up and see my family," he said. "You reassess and realize what is important in life."

Pohl was a senior on the Gophers' fourth line, often used to kill penalties. His hockey career ended abruptly early in the second period of a 3-2 victory at Minnesota State Mankato on March 16.

An elbow from Jason Wiley touched off a frightening sequence of events: Pohl's helmet popped off, his forehead hit the sideboards in front of the Gophers bench, and the winger fell to the ice unconscious.

He soon awoke, was airlifted to St. Marys Hospital, and was in an operating room by 1 a.m. He had a skull fracture and blood clots that had to be removed. The operation lasted about three hours.

Pohl has plenty of stitches as a reminder, some from the injury, some from the surgery. The stitches are in a wing shape on the right side of his close-shaven head.

He has a black right eye, too. It was swollen shut initially for a few days. He has lost 15 pounds and has to sleep partially upright.

His head still hurts at times, but his mind is as sharp and witty as always.

"I can think pretty well, I guess," Pohl said. "I did pretty well against my brother Mike in checkers in the hospital."

Scores of old hockey buddies have contacted him since he was injured.

And Pohl has made a new friend, Jason Wiley. The Mavericks sophomore forward phoned Pohl on Tuesday of last week, then visited with him the next day.

"We spent about an hour together just talking," Pohl said, "talking about playing in the WCHA, just joking around like college kids."

Pohl said he is convinced Wiley was not trying to hurt him: "I do not think it was a cheap shot. It was just an unfortunate fluke.

"I felt bad for him. He was going through some really tough things, too, being made out to be a villain. And he is a nice kid. I wish him nothing but the best."

The Mavericks' season, as it turned out, ended with that double-overtime loss to the Gophers.

Minnesota, because of winning its first-round series with Minnesota State Mankato, advanced to the Final Five last week. The Gophers lost in the championship game there but still received an at-large spot in the NCAA tournament.

Pohl has accepted the fact that he can't play again.

"For me playing hockey, me getting back on the ice, that's far from my mind," he said. "I am going to move on in my life."

Still, he misses being with his teammates.

"I wish I was there every day," Pohl said. "That's the hardest thing, more so than any physical pain I have had to deal with. You are used to going with your best friends every day to the rink."

Now, he said, he has become the team's biggest fan. He watched parts of the Gophers' three Final Five games.

"I plan on this being the last [Final Five] I miss for the next 50 years," Pohl said. "I am not only a player, I am a big fan as well."

Doctors have told him not to fly, so he will watch on TV as the Gophers play in a Northeast Regional this weekend in Worcester, Mass.

But if they win twice there, Pohl said, nobody will stop him from going to Denver for the Frozen Four two weeks later.

"They will have to handcuff me and shackle because, if we make it to the Frozen Four and people tell me I can't fly, I will drive," Pohl said. "I am going to get there."

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