Lakeville North Hockey Coach Out of Hospital

Lakeville North's girls hockey coach is home.

Buck Kochevar left the University of Minnesota Medical Center on Monday, two weeks to the day that he during one of his team's practices, fracturing his skull and requiring an airlift to the hospital for surgery.

According to his Caring Bridge Website, Kochevar is still experiencing headaches and pain in his ear, but continues to improve, his wife, Lynn wrote.

"All in all, it will take a little time. Each day is a new day. Buck continues to thank you for all the support and prayers. He smiles and laughs each time he reads the posts on CaringBridge," Lynn wrote. She also joked that after being bored enough to call her 27 times in the past two days, "he might actually have our number memorized."

It's too soon to say when Kochevar will return to work as teacher at Crystal Lake Elementary School, but on Feb. 23, Kochevar did make a post on his CaringBridge site.

"Wow! That's all I can say. Thanks for all the support and well wishes. Rehab is going well. Getting better every day," he wrote.

As of 10 a.m. on Tuesday morning, Kochevar's CaringBridge site had been visited more than 17,400 times, and the guestbook had 738 entries.

Kochevar underwent a two-hour operation following the fall on Feb. 14 to alleviate swelling around his brain. All told, he suffered a skull fracture and internal bleeding between his “skull and the tissue that proctects the brain,” according to Missy Tousignant, a family friend of Kochevar’s who was updating friends, family and the media through his stay.

Kochevar wasn't wearing a helmet on the ice the day he fell backwards and smacked his head on the ice. He was skating, not walking, with the girls. The in the section semifinals two days later.