Injuries hampering 'M' icers

By Arun Gopal

Daily Sports Writer

In hockey, as in most sports, injuries are inevitable. While they can be aggravating and disruptive to a team's momentum, they are an accepted consequence of sending finely-tuned athletes out to slam into each other for two hours.

Despite that fact, this season has been extraordinary for the Michigan hockey team. The Wolverines have been beset by an unusual rash of injuries in the young campaign. The bug first hit junior defenseman Jeff Jillson, then progressed to fellow defenseman Brad Fraser, goalie Josh Blackburn and captain Geoff Koch.

Then, just when it seemed like Michigan was starting to return to full strength, this weekend's series against Alaska-Fairbanks sent the Wolverines crashing back to reality. Michigan had three players go down, two in Friday night's 8-0 victory.

Senior assistant captain Dave Huntzicker was lost for at least six weeks after injuring his left knee late in the first period on Friday. Then, forward Craig Murray took a hard hit in the third period and was forced to miss Saturday's game with a shoulder injury.

To top things off, freshman Dave Wyzgowski hurt his left ankle early in the third period on Saturday. He is scheduled for x-rays today.

By far, the biggest blow for Michigan is the loss of Huntzicker. Surrounded by youngsters such as freshmen Andy Burnes and Mike Komisarek and sophomore Mike Roemensky, the senior has been a steadying veteran presence on the blue line and will be difficult for the Wolverines to manage without.

Losing Huntzicker "is definitely going to hurt us," sophomore center John Shouneyia said after Friday's game. "Huntz is a really solid defenseman back there. I don't think they know for sure how long, but other guys are going to have to step up."

Whither The Fourth Line?: The combination of Murray, Bill Trainor and Joe Kautz provided Michigan with an effective fourth line on Friday night. But due to the natural fourth-line game rotation, plus Murray's aforementioned injury, the Wolverines went with Trainor, Wyzgowski and J.J. Swistak on the fourth line on Saturday. Unfortunately for Michigan, the results were not great.

"I just didn't feel comfortable playing our fourth line tonight," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "They got in trouble when they were out there once, and Wyzgowski got hurt, so all of a sudden, we're shorthanded, and I didn't have a centerman, so we were playing three lines most of the night."

The Secret Weapon: Late in the second period on Friday night, Michigan goalie Josh Blackburn fired a pass to a streaking Trainor, who skated into the Alaska-Fairbanks zone and fired a perfect centering pass to a wide-open Kautz.

Kautz banged the puck home for his first career goal, and Blackburn was awarded an assist on the play. The junior netminder now has three assists so far this season, which begs the question, is Blackburn auditioning for a spot on one of the forward lines?

"I can't break (Marty) Turco's win record, so maybe I can beat him at scoring," Blackburn said with a laugh.

BRANDON SEDLOFF/Daily

Forced to be a spectator with an MCL injury, Michigan defenseman Dave Huntzicker might miss six weeks.