Minnesota senior goaltender Alex Kangas will miss the remainder of the season with a labral tear in his hip and after undergoing surgery on Friday morning faces four months of rehabilitation.
“Being a senior, you do not want to go out like this,” said Kangas in a statement released by the school. “Obviously, things did not go well for me on the ice or off the ice either. It has been a tough year, but you have to battle through it. Life kind of goes this way sometimes.”
Kangas, who was 2-5-0 in eight games this year, has played 108 career games for the Gophers (third most in school history) with a 47-41-16 record. His .912 career save percentage is a school record and his 2.56 goals-against average is fourth-best all-time.
He also set single-season records during his freshman year (2007-08) with a .930 save percentage and a 1.98 goals-against average in 31 games. Kangas is the only goaltender in Minnesota history to finish a season with a goals-against average below 2.00.
“It is hard,” said Minnesota coach Don Lucia in the same statement. “It is an issue that a lot of goaltenders seem to have. The best thing is for him to have surgery. I am disappointed for our team, but mostly disappointed for Alex. You hate to have this happen during your senior year.”
