In the third period, with his team up one goal, Austin Krause put his master plan of dissention into action. Krause stopped a soft dump in behind his net. Instead of passing to a teammate, he skated to the front of his own net and put the puck into it. He turned around gave his coaches the middle finger, saluted his teammates and left the ice for the last time.
It was Senior Night for the Farmington High School boy’s hockey team. Krause, a senior, should have been enjoying the night as his last go around before graduating, but it was far from that.
Krause would write in a Facebook post that he was fed up with what he perceived to be a lack of respect from his coaches.
“They played this sophomore goalie for the starter,” he wrote. “He was terrible, I would try and talk to the coaches about this and tell them I want playing time but they never really listen to me or gave me a chance to show them that I’m a better goalie but still wouldn’t trust me”
Krause wouldn’t be entirely wrong with his teammate’s performance. Both goalies had average records. The sophomore had only a slightly better save percentage and goals against average.
Krause had been planning to quit when he approached his teammates about his plan to leave in grand fashion. They thought it would be funny and that was that.
It really is awful. Any parent would mortified if their son or daughter pulled a stunt like that. Let’s not remember Austin Krause that way. He will always be the first goalie to score on his own goal, flip off the coaches and leave.
I don’t have much of an opinion on this. Krause is an immature baby but other than that I thought the world would be a better place if this story was out there for your consumption.
Mike Hopey is a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in journalism and media studies. He can be reached at hopey@mail.usf.edu.
