Don Lucia may have Coached his Last Game as a Gopher, and that's a Shame.

As the postseason starts without the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers making the NCAA Tournament (the Gophers lost out to UMD by .0001 in the RPI), the hot-button issue on all Minnesota fans' minds is whether head coach Don Lucia will be back next season for the Maroon and Gold.

It seems like a foregone conclusion at this point that Lucia will not be welcomed back behind the Gopher bench in 2018-2019.  This Gopher team missed the NCAA Tournament after beginning the season ranked #3 overall, returning first team All-American Tyler Sheehy, two-time Big Ten Goaltender of the Year Eric Schierhorn, and adding all-world freshman Casey Mittelstadt.  They sure seemed like they had the pieces to make a run at a national title this season, but they'll be watching from home over the next few weeks as 16 other teams fight for the trophy.

I do think that it's time for a change - the Gophers have missed the tournament twice in the last three years and have only made it out of the first round twice since they lost to North Dakota in OT on the Chris Porter wraparound in 2007 (that's two first round NCAA wins in the last 11 years in case you were playing along at home).  Those results simply are not acceptable for Gopher Hockey, and while I don't think it's fair to lay all of that at the feet of Don Lucia, he certainly needs to bear some responsibility for those results.

Coaches also have shelf lives, and I think Lucia's shelf life and his message have just gotten stale, or are falling on players differently than they did 15 years ago.

All that said, it will still be a shame if / when the team takes the ice in October and Don Lucia is not behind the bench.  This is a man who has won the most games behind the Gopher bench than anyone else (438), and for a program as storied as the University of Minnesota, one of only two coaches to have ever won the NCAA title.  Lucia's teams play an entertaining high-octane style, his kids don't get into trouble, and he has a great record on the academics side as well.

Like I said, I think it's time for a change, but I'll be a little sad to not see Lucia out there coaching the team if indeed someone else takes over at the helm next season.

To Don Lucia, thank you for many wonderful years and amazing moments in Gopher hockey history.  If this was your last year, you didn't go out the way you deserved to.  Let's hope whomever is the next head coach can get us back to the top of the mountain again.

Go Gophers!