Mario Lucia, a 2011 second-round pick by the Wild and son of Gophers hockey coach Don Lucia, might miss the first three months of his freshman season at Notre Dame after sustaining a leg injury in off-season practice Wednesday.
Lucia said he broke his left fibula and suffered ligament damage in his left ankle when a teammate fell on him during a battle drill.
"Hopefully I'll get back quicker than three months, but I'm in a cast for seven weeks, so there's not much I can do about that," Lucia said.
Lucia, who scored 42 goals and 94 points and won an RBC Cup with Penticton of the BCHL last year, is still hoping to make the U.S. team for this winter's world junior championships, but he knows it's in jeopardy.
"Hopefully I can get a few games in before the world junior camp," Lucia said. "In the meantime, I'll just work to do well in school and have a good second half. But this is very disappointing."
