By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff
After missing virtually all of last season with an ankle injury, red-shirt freshman Yasin Cisse will take the ice at Agganis Arena for the first time during regular season play Saturday against the University of New Hampshire.
Cisse did not play in last Saturday’s exhibition game due to a concussion, but he was cleared to play earlier this week and participated in full practices Wednesday and Thursday.
“Now that he’s healthy, he looks like a very good hockey player out there and I’m sure he’ll show that in games,” coach Jack Parker said. “He’s a great body and he can get up and down the rink fast and he has huge hands. He could be a huge asset for us. It’s going to take him a while to pick up the speed of the game because he hasn’t played for two years, but I don’t think it will take him that long because he’s a great player.
As a member of the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League, Cisse scored 13 goals and notched 6 assists through 18 games of the 2009-10 season before he suffered a season-ending ankle injury that required surgery. Cisse played in an exhibition game against the University of Toronto and the season opener against the University of Wisconsin before re-injuring the same ankle.
According to Parker, the ankle was fixed differently when Cisse had a second surgery on it last season.
“I think he’s confident with [the way it was fixed],” Parker said. “I’m sure he’s worried about anything because he hasn’t taken bumps and been involved in physical play for two years. He doesn’t shy away at all, but he’ll be concerned every time he gets hit. That will take a while to realize, ‘I’m all set.’ We have to get some games under his belt and see how he feels.”
– Senior goaltender Kieran Millan will start in net on Saturday despite a poor performance against St. Francis Xavier University last Saturday. Both Parker and junior forward Wade Megan expressed confidence in the netminder following Saturday’s loss, and Parker said nothing has changed during the week.
“He just knew he had a bad night,” Parker said Thursday. “He wasn’t seeing the puck and wasn’t concentrating. We had a pretty good practice that morning and he was pretty tired from that. But more than anything else, I just told him, ‘Hey, there’s your bad game of the year’; It’s a good one to get out at the beginning of the year.
– Parker said Thursday that the lines Saturday night will be markedly different from those he debuted in the exhibition game last Saturday. He still does not have concrete lines together because he said he is not sure whether he will play sophomore forward Sahir Gill at center or right wing.
The one line Parker will keep intact from last Saturday’s game is the Courtnall-Gaudet-Gilroy line.
“They give us a real good mind-set, good physical play,” Parker said. “They’re upperclassmen and strong guys. They kind of feed off of each other and play well together.”
– Junior defenseman Ryan Ruikka continues to heal from a hairline fracture in his foot and will be re-evaluated at the end of next week. Parker said Ruikka’s recovery is on track with a three- or four-week return timetable. This is the third time in Ruikka’s four years at BU that he has suffered an injury before the season started.
“He’s a really mentally strong kid,” Parker said. “He’s been through this in the past. If there wasn’t any bad luck, he and Cisse wouldn’t have any luck at all so I think that it’s unbelievable that he has two kind of quirky injuries hold him back in off-ice training time. I’m sure he’s disappointed he’s not in the lineup but he’s a guy that he’s been through this before and he can do it again.”
– Junior forward Ryan Santana will be out until the second half of the season, Parker said Thursday. Santana had off-season shoulder surgery on an unspecified condition that plagued him throughout the last year.
Hi: Does anyone know what the status of Cam Darcy’s decision between BU and BC is? Last I heard he was supposed to have made a decision sometime last month. Thanks.