UNO Goalie Massa Injuried in Overtime Victory; CHN Steams

UNO defeated Minnesota State-Mankato tonight 2-1 in overtime. The victory was bittersweet as UNO goalie Ryan Massa was flattened in his goal crease in the opening minute of overtime by MSU's Evan Mosey. Massa was motionless on the ice after the hit, and eventually was taken off the ice on a stretcher.  No word at this time about Massa's condition.  No penalty was called at that time, though moments later, Minnesota State slashed Massa's replacement, Daryn Belfour. UNO's Bryce Aneloski scored on the power play for the game winner.

After the game, UNO's concern went immediately to the condition of Massa. Dean Blais quickly left for the hospital to check on Massa, drawing the ire of College Hockey News reporter Dan Myers. And like some reporters, he started tweeting in frustration at Blais' absence. It all began with the following tweet:

That's not the point. As the head coach, he needs to be available and accessible for the media.

In doing so, Myers became yet another member of the media who forgot that it's "not about you" when it comes to coaches dealing with the media. In this case, Myers felt the media took precedence over his unconscious freshman who had just been sent to the hospital strapped to a gurney.

UNO fans questioned that on Twitter, and rather than rethink his original and admit his mistake, he upped the ante and played the victim in a series of tweets:

To the UNO crowd: I was simply saying it would have been nice to talk to Blais after the game about Massa and the game itself.

OK. I'm done trying to explain myself. Enjoy your seat in front of your television.

I've been hammered by these people tonight for no reason. My intention was not to be insensitive. I guess that's how it came off

Twitter is a double-edged sword.  It's the fastest way news gets out; post something on Twitter, and if people deem it important, it spreads like wildfire.  And with mobile phones, it's easy to fire off a tweet, and start a fire.  Sometimes you start a fire, and don't realize it.  And that happened to Myers tonight.  He took offense at Blais' decision to look after his player.  Blais was right, Myers was dead wrong.  Does Myers deserve an answer to his questions about the game?  Yes.  But in the moments after the game, Blais had a more important job.  Check on his player, and make sure that his player's family (who likely were listening to the game over the internet and were assuredly anxiously waiting for news) knew what was happening.

Hopefully Massa just suffered a concussion (as if that's a minor thing, which it's not) and won't suffer any long-term ill-effects of tonight's hit.  In the meantime, UNO will need to get another goaltender to Mankato in the morning.  And the WCHA will need to review the video of tonight's game.  After watching UNO's Alex Simonson get a five minute major and game ejection for charging Duluth's Kenny Reiter last Saturday night, Mosey's hit likely deserves similar action.  The first TV replay looked like it was a knee; the UNO YouTube video is inconclusive.  Some would argue that UNO's Brent Gwidt pushed Mosey into Massa, though it's likely that Mosey was going to collide with Massa no matter what.

(Footnight:  Nice move by the Mankato public address announcer to select Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" and the Scorpions' "Rock You Like a Hurricane" to "entertain" the crowd while Massa lay motionless on the ice.)