November 16, 2005
Thauwald Gone; Burish Cleared
CHN Staff Report
Colorado College forward Scott Thauwald will be out for the rest of the season, facing reconstructive knee surgery on the same injured knee from which he just recovered.
Thauwald was hit by Wisconsin forward Adam Burish as the final horn sounded in the Badgers' 3-0 win over CC last Saturday. Burish was trying to run interference for teammate Robbie Earl, thinking Thauwald was charging hard at him.
Thauwald missed the second half of last season and just returned to the lineup this past weekend, scoring a goal on Friday. He faces another torn ACL, a compression fracture in the a bone in the knee, and tissue damage, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.
Burish was given a game disqualification penalty, meaning he has to sit for this Friday's game against Minnesota State. But after reviewing the incident, WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod decided against further discipline. Burish was ordered to write a letter of apology to Thauwald.
Thauwald, a junior from Rochester, Minn., should be eligible for a medical hardship waiver for this season, and is expected to apply for it in order to maintain his final two years of eligibility.
Thauwald had 13 goals and 19 points in 55 games over his first two season with the Tigers.
McLeod and WCHA director of officials Greg Shepherd compared Burish's hit to that of Denver's Geoff Paukovich in last year's Final Five, and determined that this one didn't rise to that level. Paukovich received a one-game suspension for a hit from behind on North Dakota's Robbie Bina. Bina has been out since, and will miss this entire season, with a broken vertebrae.
"If you take a look at the Paukovich situation and what the penalty was for that and what (WCHA officials) were doing here, that seemed to be too much," Eaves said to the Wisconsin State Journal.
