LUCIA ANXIOUS FOR NEXT STEP OF HIS CAREER
Apr 10, 2016By Tom Witosky | Follow @toskyAHLWild
When Mario Lucia sat down at his locker following his professional debut with the Iowa Wild, he understood two things about hockey in the American Hockey League.
“It is a lot different than college,” the 22-year-old and former Notre Dame forward said. “I did some things well, but I have a lot of things to work on.”
Lucia, the Minnesota Wild’s second round draft choice in the 2011 entry draft, is one of a new stable of players on the Iowa roster – all of whom have been signed to amateur tryout contracts at the end of their college/junior careers. Also playing for the wild are former Providence forward Nick Saracino, 24, former Michigan Tech forward Alex Petan, 23, and Chase Lang, a 19-year-old center who recently completed his major junior A career with the WHL Vancouver Giants.
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Of those four, Lucia and Lang were drafted by the Wild; Petan and Saracino are free agents looking to get a chance at getting to the Wild’s training camp next season.
David Cunniff, Iowa’s interim head coach, said that clubs like to bring young players at the end of the season not only to evaluate their skills, but also to provide the players with an early taste of professional hockey.
““It is to give them a taste about what this league is all about so they go home at the end of the season and understand to an extent what is ahead for them,” Cunniff said.
He added that experience is important because “they learn what it’s like to be playing against men and what it is like to be a pro player.”
For Lucia, the chance to play with the Wild just after finishing his senior season at Notre Dame has provided fans with an early glimpse of the maturity of a player many Wild fans have followed for years in Minnesota.
The son of the Minnesota Gopher coach Don Lucia, acknowledged there is a certain amount of additional pressure from the notoriety, but looks at it more philosophically.
“There is pressure when you have been drafted by the club because you want to help with the team’s success as quickly as possible,” he said. “But being down here for the next few weeks will help because it gives me a chance to get my feet wet and getting the hang of pro hockey lifestyle.”
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At Notre Dame, Lucia built an impressive resume, mostly as a goal scorer in his second and third years when he totaled 63 points in 82 games. Overall, he completed his four years with the Irish with 110 points in 151 games.
Lucia said that while his point total in his final year dropped a bit, he knows that he made the right decision to return to school both athletically and academically.
“Obviously I would have liked to score a few more goals this year, but I was a lot better in different areas of the game,” Lucia said. “The team, as a whole, didn’t score a lot, but we made it to the NCAA tournament and that’s what made it worth it to go back to school.”
Lucia said that he never regretted deciding to play hockey in college as opposed to juniors.
“I didn’t even think about going to major junior. Playing in college was way better for me for a lot of reasons,” he said. “It gives me a fallback when I am no longer playing hockey.”
Lucia will receive a degree in management consulting on May 15 and he intends to participate in the graduation festivities in South Bend. He said that he will return to campus right after the Wild’s season ends April 16 and finish his final class.
“Notre Dame is one of the top institutions in the world and I am going to be proud when they hand me the degree I have worked so hard for over the last four years,” he said.
After graduation, Lucia will return home to prepare for first full season as a professional player. He said he needs to improve his strength, but also his speed and first step quickness.
“I’d like to put 10 pounds on, but it’s more important for me to play with speed because it helps so much at the next level,” he said.
As for his future with the Wild, Lucia said he doesn’t have any idea whether he will be in Iowa or in Minnesota. But he added that will be largely up to him.
“Ultimately, it is up to me and how hard I work,” he said. “If I have a good summer, you never know. “
Cunniff said that he likes what he has seen from Lucia so far. Despite a shaky start in his first game, Cunniff said that Lucia, who picked up two assists in his first three games, showed an understanding of his role.
“I was pleasantly surprised by his game,” Cunniff said. “I didn’t know him at all, but he was involved in a lot of play which is what you want to be.”
Lucia said that his first game will remain etched in his memory if, for no other reason, he found the game simpler and more difficult at the same time.
“It is a little easier than college really because it’s structured more systematically,” he said. “The players are all good so they know where to be and are in position to make the plays that are there.”
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But he said that also creates the problem of having fewer opportunities for success.
“In college, you usually can get four or five chances a game,” Lucia explained. “Here you might get two and hope you can make the play that is there. You will only get so many chances.”
But that is what Lucia and the other young players on the Wild want – a chance.