Mudbugs’ Dale Lupul retires; to say final goodbye tonight
February 23rd, 2010Dale Lupul’s playing career is officially over and tonight will be the final time Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs fans will have a chance to wish him well.
The 30-year-old defenseman signed retirement papers today and will be behind the bench – where’s he’s been since a concussion sidelined him early this season – for the final time at the CenturyTel Center tonight against the Texas Brahmas.
“It’s bittersweet,” Lupul said Tuesday. “Now I have to go home. I don’t want to go. It’s going to be tough to say goodbye to the boys and the fans.”
The Mudugs will honor No. 44 in a pregame ceremony.
“I knew the moment was coming,” teammate and best friend Brett Smith said Tuesday. “I was hoping it would come at the end of the year.
“They asked me if I wanted to say something during the tribute, but I don’t think I can do it. It’s going to be too much. It’s sad to see a guy’s career end like that, especially someone I consider a brother.”
Lupul, who originally put on the teal and purple as an amateur in the 2005 postseason, completes his Mudbugs pro career with 14 goals and 86 assists in 186 games. His final game was Nov. 25 at Rio Grande Valley.
Lupul, hounded by concussions his entire career, was injured the final time when Brett Clouthier — making his Killer Bees debut that night — delivered an elbow to the head about 60 feet away from the puck.
“It’s a really tough goodbye,” Mudbugs head coach Scott Muscutt said. “It’s one thing if a kid pipes up and says ‘my time has come.’ Then it’s their choice. It’s tough when somebody takes a liberty and it costs a player a year — his final year.”
Lupul, who played just 11 games in his fourth professional season with the Mudbugs, will head to port Coquitlam, British Colombia, with wife, Jerra, where the couple is expected to have its first child during the first week of April.
Lupul has served as an assistant coach since his final action on the ice and wanted to stick out the 2009-10 season behind the bench. But immigration details won’t allow it.
“With the paperwork and insurance, we couldn’t,” he said.
Perhaps tonight, through some expected tears, Muscutt will catch a final glimpse of something that’s defined his 6-foot-2, 210-pounder D-man since his arrival along the Red River.
“I’ll always remember the celebration,” Muscutt said. “Dale Lupul, every time he scored, he had that smile. From the first year as an amateur when he scored in the playoffs to the last goal this season, he had that kid-in-the-candy-store smile. I loved it.
“It was a great example of how to never stop loving the game.”
