Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/102697
ND Sports in my whole life." Lucia regularly attended summer workouts with the Gophers in high school and tagged along with his dad on his way to the office. When it came time to pick a college, father and son both decided it might be best to cut the cord. Don coached Mario's older brother, Tony, at Minnesota and struggled to find a balance between making sure his players didn't think Tony was getting special treatment or extra ice time and making sure he wasn't taking away ice time for the same reasons. "At times, I felt guilty because there were times I felt I held him back," Don said. "I always erred to the side where I put him down [on a lower line] instead of putting him up." When Mario decided to attend Notre Dame, Don was thrilled. He played for the Irish from 1977-81 and loved his time in South Bend. Notre Dame's staff was thrilled, too. They roped in a speedy, 6-3 winger with silky smooth hands and a knack for being in the right place at the right time — one of their top prospects in the past couple years. Like Christmas, the beginning of Lucia's career at Notre Dame was delayed. In his first fall workout on the ice with his new team, Lucia fell awkwardly along the board and snapped his left fibula. The injury sidelined him for the first month of the season and put his spot on the U.S. National Team roster in jeopardy. He kept busy during rehab by propping his busted leg on a chair and firing thousands of pucks on the team's RapidShot, the hockey equivalent of a batting cage. "That was kind of like my oasis I guess," he said. "To still be able to shoot and stick handle, that kept my hands and it was my mental getaway." His hands stayed sharp while rebuilding his leg. Lucia scored his first collegiate goal in his second game on the ice at Michigan's Yost Arena, and he had five goals and five assists in his first nine games of action. He developed an instant chemistry with junior center T.J. Tynan, which breathed some life into what was a stagnant power play unit and helped No. 2 Notre Dame into first place in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association with eight victories in nine games between Nov. 15 and Dec. 15. "They see the ice well and they see each other," head coach Jeff Jackson said. "That's only going to get better as time goes on as they play with each other." Lucia won the CCHA's Rookie of the Month award for December after putting together a five-game point streak before the holiday break. His performance convinced Team USA he was healthy enough to travel overseas for the World Junior Classic and play against the top 20-year-olds in the world. "He didn't have a major role, but to be part of that team and come back from injury is a credit to him," Don said. "To be a part of something like that is something you'll remember for the rest of your life." The coaching side of Lucia also knows it will help Mario improve his game on the ice, too. And now that Notre Dame is in the rear view mirror on Minnesota's schedule, he's rooting hard for Mario to keep getting better. ✦