At 03:42 PM 4/1/96 -0800, Barkan, Jon wrote:
 
>Third, if I ever have a son (a sick thought I know), and he wanted to play
>college hockey, I would want him to play for Don Lucia. After getting a
>chance to spend some time with Don and get to know him on and off the
>record, he is one of the classiest men in the game today. He loves his
>players and it showed this week. He's an even keeled coach who doesn't get
>too high or too low. He laughed as his players busted on him at the Thursday
>press conference and he cried when Peter Geronazzo and Jay McNeill spoke of
>how much this program and their coach meant to them. His son skated before
>the team did on Thursday and Don's family was never far behind him when he
>was off the ice. He promotes everything that is good about this sport on and
>off the ice. We need more coaches and people like Don Lucia in our lives to
>make us realize that life doesn't have to be that hard or that bad. More
>importantly, we need Don to show us that you don't need to cheat to win.
>Just be yourself and sell what you believe in! Look at what this man has
>done with a program with NO HOME RINK!!!!! It's just incredible! The only
>question that I never asked him this weekend, and if he's reading this
>please let me know, what he saw in Colorado College's program that he saw to
>take the job???
 
Imagine how we Nanooks felt when Don left us...  You are right on the money,
though.  I took a beginning hockey class from Don back in the spring of '89.
He took our success every bit as seriously as his players, even though a lot
of us could barely skate.  His attitude embodies all the qualities you'd
hope to have in a coach, primarily that he leads by example, not by
preaching to his players.
 
By the way, when asked about his interest in the vacant UAA head coaching
position (where he served as Brush Christian's assistant in the early 80's)
he apparently laughed robustly and shared the joke with his wife Joyce.  :)
 
Still, with the bunch that Red put on the ice this year, CC has nothing to
hang their head about.  College hockey at large benefits from play (and
people) like this.
 
As for me, I can't wait to see the Wolverines in Fairbanks next January...
 
-----
Mark J. Sonnier, C.P.M.
Purchasing Agent
University of Alaska Anchorage
 
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