By Kevin Dillon/DFP Staff
Boston University men’s hockey coach David Quinn kept knocking on wood Thursday afternoon. He did this whenever he talked about the health of his players, saying he “can’t afford not to do that,” after his team’s recent luck.
Senior winger Jake Moscatel and junior winger Evan Rodriguez have not played since Jan. 4 at Harvard University, sophomore defenseman Matt Grzelcyk has been out with a shoulder injury suffered in practice Jan. 9 and freshman forward Dillon Lawrence injured his foot during BU’s (7-11-2, 2-5-1 Hockey East) Frozen Fenway contest against the University of Maine on Jan. 11.
With the departure of forward Sam Kurker for the Indiana Ice of the USHL, BU is down to 16 healthy skaters as it heads to Conte Forum for its rivalry matchup with No. 3/4 Boston College Friday night.
“I still think you’ve got enough bodies,” Quinn said. “On paper, it looks like, ‘Oh my god.’ Plenty of teams play 11 forwards and five D during the course of the game even when they’ve got 12 forwards dressed and six defensemen dressed.”
The biggest blow of the bunch is the Grzelcyk injury, which will keep him sidelined for the rest of the season, according to Quinn. Grzelcyk leads the team with 61 shots this season, and Quinn had praised him as the team’s best player this season.
Grzelcyk’s injury coming in the midst of the team’s four-game losing streak is becoming a lot to handle for the Terriers.
“When it rains, it pours, huh,” Quinn said.
If we take a 5 minute major and a player gets thrown out of the game, can the backup goalie play as a forward or defenseman?
We could have really used the Privitera brothers this year. The younger Privitera would have been our best freshman forward.
Baillargeon and Roberto are both far better players than Privitera.
And you, Mr. Privitera, already know that.
Is Eichel still coming? Several posters on USCHO says he’s no coming.
As far as I know his coming. But I will believe it when I see it. Money talks, and the Canadian leagues are drooling over him.
Grzelcyk out for season? What the hell. Did his arm fall off? Can’t believe that with modern medics a sep shoulder can not heal in six weeks.Is this the talk of his doc or his agent? Just asking.
At least this guarantees that Grzelcyk comes back next year. No way a NHL team even looks at him after this pathetic season.
People are saying on campus that Grzelcyk is pretty much leaving and the injury is just an excuse. He SEEMS to be leaving like Kurker, just in a sneakier way.
Anyone know if we are still selling tickets to the game at BC?
Our team is young, small, and now injury plagued…
In case anyone needs tickets, I just called BC and they said they are selling the tickets that we returned to them.