Minnesota junior forward Dan Welch has been released from the team for academic reasons, the university announced Friday.<\/p>\n
Welch, who had previously missed a year and a half of collegiate playing time due to academic trouble, had played in all but one game with the Gophers this season.<\/p>\n
“He signed a contract with the university … and it appears he will not fulfill that contract,” said Gopher head coach Don Lucia, who was informed of the situation Friday morning.<\/p>\n
Lucia did not elaborate on Welch’s contract, citing confidentiality concerns.<\/p>\n
After missing all of 2000-01 and half of last season, Welch returned to the Gophers in late January 2002 and had 10 points in 19 games, helping Minnesota win the NCAA title.<\/p>\n
He had five goals and five assists in 18 games this season. He played 36 games for Minnesota as a freshman in 1999-2000.<\/p>\n
As of Friday, not all of Welch’s grades had apparently come in, but those that were available made it very likely that the needed academic standards would not be met.<\/p>\n
“It’s time to move on,” said Lucia. “I feel bad for him; he’s a good kid.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Minnesota junior forward Dan Welch has been released from the team for academic reasons, the university announced Friday. Welch, who had previously missed a year and a half of collegiate playing time due to academic trouble, had played in all but one game with the Gophers this season. “He signed a contract with the university […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n