University of Minnesota Athletics
Lucia Addresses Media About Illness
1/4/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Minnesota men's hockey coach Don Lucia and team doctor Rob LaPrade addressed the media during the first intermission of the Gophers' game against Northeastern on Saturday regarding Lucia's recent illness.
Lucia and LaPrade each made a statement without answering any questions. Lucia has missed practice all week and was absent from Minnesota's game against Brown on Friday. He watched Saturday's game from the press box and spoke to the team between periods. Lucia's and LaPrade's statements are below:
Head coach Don Lucia media statement:
“I started feeling a little bit under the weather last weekend, and since last Saturday I’ve undergone numerous tests. That’s why I have not been at practice. Some of the medications I’m on... Right now I haven’t been feeling comfortable enough to be out there, and because of the timing of some of these tests I couldn’t make it [to practice].
“The thing is right now, all the tests have been negative. There are still three or four things that it could be, but right now we just don’t know. I will not be at the games next weekend in Grand Forks because I do have one more test scheduled for next Friday, and that’s the earliest they could do it.
“I do feel grateful for Dr. LaPrade and Dr. Feist. They have certainly gone above to get me in to see these doctors. Because of the timing with Christmas and New Year’s, a lot of people have been out of town. It’s a process that has been sped up as quickly as it can be, and hopefully after the tests next Friday or sometime next week we’ll have a better idea of what’s going on.
“I’ll let Dr. LaPrade speak a little bit to it, and hopefully after this there’s nothing else to say so I won’t get called at home 10 times any more. As you can see, I don’t have Stage 1 brain cancer or Bell’s palsy or any of the other rumors that are out there. Thank you, and hopefully we can win a championship today.”
Dr. Rob LaPrade, team doctor
“First off, I just want to say that we’re making sure Coach Lucia has the best of care and gets the best of care. We really don’t have a diagnosis right now, so all the speculation out there, all of it is wrong. We don’t have a diagnosis, and the treatment algorithm is so complex, there are so many different things it could be that there is no way to speculate on that right now.
“So I think the best thing to do is to wait until Friday when we have some further testing done, and there’s a good chance we could have a diagnosis by then. If everybody could respect coach’s privacy [until then], because we don’t really know and we won’t know until that point in time."
