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UCLA hockey’s goalie Adam Kubalski was injured in a controversial play against USC two week

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Junior forward/defenseman Jeff Sanka and the UCLA hockey team look forward to the chance to aveng

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These freeze frames show the collision between Matt Lewis and Adam Kubalski. To see footage from

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These freeze frames show the collision between Matt Lewis and Adam Kubalski.

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These freeze frames show the collision between Matt Lewis and Adam Kubalski.

Adam Kubalski lay immobile on the ice in Eugene, Ore., as his teammates and fans wondered what had just happened. Since he began playing organized hockey at the age of 5, Kubalski had never heard of a goalie getting hit by an oncoming scorer during a penalty shot. Now he was that goalie. And he was in a world of pain. Kubalski, UCLA’s junior goaltender, and USC freshman defenseman Matt Lewis collided in the opening round of penalty shots to determine the outcome of an overtime game between the crosstown rivals Feb. 11. Because of his injury, Kubalski – widely considered the best goalie in the league – had to be taken out, and USC went on to win the shootout against UCLA’s backup goalie. After the match, Kubalski couldn’t help but suspect that Lewis might have crashed into him intentionally. He wasn’t the only one. The incident left coaches, players, fans and even an official questioning the intentions of Lewis and his team. Lewis has encountered much criticism for his aggressive play but attributes the crash to poor skating. “I didn’t do it on purpose,” Lewis said. “I tried to cut left with my right foot and ... it kind of slipped out; then I just kind of fell on top of him.” USC coach Mark Wilbur said the collision was partly caused by poor skating on Lewis’ behalf, but the positioning during that play was also a factor. “The whole incident was sad and tragic,” said Wilbur. “The reality is (that Lewis) completely mishandled the puck and the kid’s a freshman.” But not everyone who witnessed the crash saw it as completely accidental. “At this level of hockey, you shouldn’t run into the goalie,” said Oregon coach Scott McCallum. “In a shootout, that just shouldn’t happen.” The Bruin goalie came back to Los Angeles two weeks ago on crutches, in the wake of defeat and injury. The Trojan hockey team returned to Los Angeles after winning the Pac-8 Championship, surrounded by controversy. UCLA plays USC again Friday night, in what has become a highly anticipated game. Competition for the Crosstown Cup, a five-game series between the two rivals, is still underway, and UCLA needs one more win to clinch the series. It is doubtful that Kubalski will play.

The incident UCLA (12-11) entered the Pac-8 Championship tournament Feb. 10, an underdog in its first-round match against USC. The Bruins won two of the previous three games against their crosstown rival, with the lone loss a forfeit due to a player’s academic ineligibility. This time, the game led to a sudden-death overtime period, which ended in a 4-4 tie. The teams were then relegated to a five-game penalty shooting contest. At first, it seemed like UCLA, with first-team Pac-8 goalie Kubalski, had the definite advantage. Lewis was selected to shoot first for USC. According to video footage obtained by the Daily Bruin from Kubalski’s father, Zygmunt Kubalski, Lewis was only a few feet away from the goal when he moved his stick from his left- to right-hand side. Lewis then lowered his body to fit under the goalpost, lifted his elbows up in front of his face, and collided with Kubalski. Kubalski, his legs spread apart and his footing unsure, had the puck firmly in his possession just before the impact. As Lewis collided with Kubalski, the Bruin goalie’s knee bent in an awkward position and was pinned to the ice as his body was pushed backward. The goalie, the shooter and the puck all slid to the back of the net in a heap. The aftermath for the Bruin goalie was a sprained MCL, a bone contusion, a heavy edema in his knee and a slightly torn quad. No penalty was given, and no point scored. Kubalski stayed in the game, but when he tried to block the shot of the next USC shooter, his knee gave way. He was carried off the ice after the goal. UCLA was forced to replace Kubalski with backup goalie David Spangle, who normally plays forward/guard and had not played in the goal for four years. UCLA lost the shootout 4-3 and USC went on to beat Oregon, claiming the conference championship. There is an unwritten rule in hockey that hockey players are supposed to do everything in their power to avoid hitting a goalie. “Goalies are usually off-limits; you’re supposed to avoid hitting them at all costs,” said Brad Whitworth, assistant captain and vice president of the UCLA team.

The fallout Since Feb. 11, a handful of coaches and players have voiced concern over whether Lewis maliciously intended to injure the UCLA goalie. McCallum was watching the UCLA-USC matchup while his team waited to play California in the following game. McCallum did not go as far as saying the incident was premeditated, but he did voice major concerns over Lewis’s alleged effort to avoid Kubalski. “It sure didn’t look like (Lewis) made an effort to avoid running into Adam,” McCallum said. “I think he was trying to get into Adam’s head and shake him up and maybe make him a little dizzy.” McCallum thinks that sort of play by Lewis is “horrible,” he added. Several Pac-8 coaches and players have reiterated the opinion that Lewis made no discernible effort to avoid Kubalski. “I think (Lewis) failed in his responsibility to ensure the health of the other goalie,” said Ben Greenberg, an off-ice official for the tournament and also a former member of the Oregon hockey team. Cal assistant coach Chris Dang was also bothered by the event. “It looked like he fell forward towards the goalie, rather than just dropping to the ice,” Dang said of Lewis. “It seemed like he went into the goalie hard. Most players, when they run into the goalie, do everything they can to slow down a bit.” UCLA coach Mike Kelly had quite possibly the most vocal and angered response to the incident, as he felt UCLA had a strong chance of winning with Kubalski in the net. “(Lewis) didn’t try to stop,” Kelly said. “He’s one of their better players too, so he should be in more control of his skating.” USC coach Wilbur blames the injury on Kubalski’s positioning. “Kubalski was completely out of position inside the net; he is too tight on the net,” Wilbur said. “Normally what you try and teach goalies on a shootout is that they (should be) more out towards the top of the crease so they can read and react as the player approaches in on the net, and he was almost inside of the net,” Wilbur said. But close examination of video taken of the event reveals that Kubalski was actually in front of the crease – the position in which Wilbur says he should be – when Lewis began to make his move. Kubalski himself believes the hit was intentional, due to the force the USC player put into his fall. “(Lewis) basically came down on my knee with his stick between his hands and pushed my upper body back,” Kubalski said. “I definitely felt some extra force coming from his hands and he came down on my knee and upper body.” UCLA’s trainer, David Cokely, who has spoken with Kubalski’s doctors, attributes Kubalski’s injuries to the blunt force trauma that occurred when Lewis’ stick made contact with Kubalski’s knee. After the game, Wilbur walked past Kubalski in the lobby of the skating rink. “He saw me in the lobby, walking with my crutches, and didn’t say a single word to me – no ‘Sorry,’ nothing,” Kubalski said. “That’s when I gave him a piece of my mind.” Wilbur and Kubalski said they then engaged in a profanity-laced argument. “How can I approach him?” said Wilbur, explaining why he didn’t apologize to Kubalski after the game. “The kid wanted to kill me.” The drama reached new heights when the league hosted its annual awards banquet the following night. Wilbur, also the executive director of the league at the time, performed the duty of giving awards out to players. Members of the UCLA, Oregon and Cal teams booed him throughout the ceremony. All four teams in the tournament were staying in the Eugene Hilton, and USC and UCLA players got into a yelling match later that night after they had been drinking, Lewis and UCLA defenseman Niki Kollar confirmed. According to the log kept by the private security guard of the hotel, he “broke up a large fight between USC and UCLA players” in the hotel lobby at 2 a.m.

Executive decision Marshall Stevenson, president of the American Collegiate Hockey Association – the Pac-8’s governing body – took issue with Wilbur getting into an argument with an injured player. “Anybody in their right mind is going to say that certainly the coach should take the high road,” said Stevenson, who expects the ACHA Division II commissioner to look into the incident. Meanwhile, Pac-8 Commissioner Roger Kulpa considers the incident to be accidental and believes no further investigation will be necessary. “One of the USC players fell into the goalie, causing an injury,” Kulpa said. “That’s about it. ... It did not appear to look intentional.” Kulpa, who attended the awards banquet at which Wilbur was booed, also said he was unaware of “any subsequent drama.”

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