Minnesota men’s hockey defenseman Alex Goligoski has a broken bone in the top of his left hand and might miss the Gophers’ first NCAA Tournament game versus Maine on Saturday.

Goligoski is wearing a removable cast and will be fitted with a hard cast Wednesday or Thursday.

“I’ll see what I can do with it then, but it’s going to be hard, because it’s my bottom hand (on my shot),” he said.

The freshman said that he broke the bone when he hit his hand on the boards in Saturday’s 4-2 loss to North Dakota in the WCHA Final Five third-place game.

“It was just one of those freak things,” he said.

Forward Tyler Hirsch, who did not play Saturday after an emotional outburst following Friday’s loss to Colorado College, did not skate during Monday’s optional practice.