The Arizona hockey team is having one of its best seasons in years, but not everything is coming up roses.
Senior goalie David Herman was dismissed from the team, head coach Sean Hogan said Thursday after practice.
“He’s been dismissed from the team and we’ve moved on from it,” Hogan said. “There’ll be no comments from our side about it. He’s not a player on the hockey team.”
Herman split time with current junior starter Steven Sisler last year, playing 14 games while Sisler played 19, but Herman didn’t play this year after falling out of favor.
“As of right now, I don’t know fully why I was dismissed and I plan to file an appeal,” Herman said. “I believe there should be an appeal process and I’ll just let it all play out and hopefully I’ll be back on the team second semester after an appeal.”
Last season, the Highland Park, Ill., native played 783.90 minutes in 14 games with a 3.90 goals against average, 51 goals, 400 saves and a 0.89 save percentage.
Last November and December, Herman played goalie in the Wildcats’ back-to-back wins over top 10 teams. He had 31 saves in the 3-1 upset of No. 6 Ohio and 25 saves in the 4-1 win over No. 7 Oklahoma.
Then Herman suffered a concussion in practice. He had two in the 2009-10 season, one from being kneed by an ASU player, and wasn’t the same afterward, losing his starting job to Sisler.
Sisler (8-8) won UA’s goalie competition in September and Herman alternated with sophomore Bob Schultz (2-1) as the backup.
Freshman Dylan Hojnacki (1-0) is the other goalie on the roster.
“I’m sure they have their reasons that I was dismissed and we’ll see how it plays out,” Herman said. “I have no idea as to the inner workings, I still have to find out all the information.”
Herman’s career 48 games, 1787 saves, .890 save percentage and 4.58 goals against average compare with the UA’s great goalies. He has made more saves than Icecat hall of fame inductee Dennis Hands, who made 1637.
Herman doesn’t know who to appeal to, but says he is trying to figure that out.
In 2011, the Icecats initiated a coaching change and the hockey team came under control of the school, like the smaller club teams.
“I’m sure there’s got to be one [an appeal process], that’s why we made the changes a few years ago, so the coach doesn’t have too much power,” Herman said.
Though Herman played two games last season for the inline hockey team, he says that if he doesn’t return to the ice hockey team, he hopes to join the lacrosse team, as he played lacrosse in high school. The Laxcats play their regular season in the spring semester.
“It’s only been a few days, but I really miss the guys on the team and in the locker room,” Herman said. “So I’d like to be able to finish out my senior year with the guys that I came in with and all the guys I’ve met since I started here.”
