GopherGate

This is probably as stupid as discussing Notre Dame's hiring policies, but I'm going to go for it anyway.

As most of you already know, Fox 9 KMSP in Minneapolis ran an investigative report on underage Gopher hockey players drinking in bars. The piece itself was highly sensationalized, and overall really lame, but I think it did bring up some points that should be addressed and weren't adequately covered by the story.

Yes, we all know that this type of thing happens at every university around the country. But the loose enforcement of this law doesn't change the law itself. The fact is, players were caught on tape doing something illegal and should probably face charges on it. It shouldn't be a huge deal to the players. I believe the fine for that type of thing is around $260.

The bigger issue that Fox 9 touched on, but I don't think really hammered home was the issue surrounding the student-athlete code of conduct. Many Minnesota fans over the past few days have brought up the point that lots of college students go to bars and drink underaged. The problem with this is that all athletes at Minnesota enter into an agreement with the school specifically saying they won't do that type of thing. Just about every school has this, but I think it's a particularly important issue for Minnesota as their athletic department has suffered it's fair share of black eyes in recent history between the cheating scandal, taking football recruits to strip clubs, and allegations of sexual assault by football players. I think it's important for the university, not coach Don Lucia, to step in and send a message to the players.

I think the suspensions should be relatively minor as what the players did wasn't that terrible of an offense. Two games sounds about fair. The one exception, however, is that if the coaching staff knew about this, and had warned the players about going out and being seen in bars, and they still did it, I'd think the suspensions should be lengthened accordingly.

The issue brought up in Monday night's report was probably the more serious of the two. They should on videotape, players receiving free admission into the bar, while others were forced to pay cover, which would consitute special benenfits in the eyes of the NCAA. Again, 3 dollars a week isn't a huge deal, but it is still a violation.

It is interesting that this story came out the week before Alaska-Anchorage, who a few years ago, had players miss games to NCAA special benefits violations when teammates on scholarship purchased textbooks for fellow teammates. In my opinion, the Gopher situation is a little more serious because it involves a program booster giving benefits to hockey players, which is one of the NCAA's cardinal sins. Aside from just the underage drinking, the story also mentioned the bar owners relationship with Dan Irmen and Ryan Potulny. If I were Don Lucia, I'd do what I could to cut contact between them immediately. I'm sure there were enough free drinks handed out to incriminate the majority of the hockey team and leave the Gophers in more serious trouble. As for the free cover for hockey players, while it's a minor offense, it's an offense none the less that deserves a game or two suspension from the NCAA.

As for the owner of the bar, he's probably the one in the most serious trouble. It's gonna be pretty tough for him to plead ignorance on whether or not some of those players were under 21. I mean, he watched Phil Kessel and Jeff Frazee come to Mariucci last season and play for the Under 18 team. I'm pretty sure they didn't magically get 4 years older over the course of 6 months. I'm sure he noticed that Alex Goligoski missed some time last year because he was off playing for the Under 20 national team.

I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up losing his liquor license over this. I also wouldn't be surprised if he's completely ostracized from Minnesota athletics. He'll likely be the real loser in this whole situation.

All in all, this should end up being another black eye for Minnesota athletics, but nothing too damaging. Some players definitely should miss some time for their behavior, but once that punishment is served, I'm sure things will quickly blow over.