A split second before he collided with Notre Dame’s Justin Janicke in a game in South Bend, Ind., last Friday, Gophers forward Brody Lamb lifted his right skate off the ice by maybe a quarter of an inch. That tiny twitch may have saved Lamb’s season, as he survived a dangerous knee-on-knee hit by Janicke and could possibly return to the ice as soon as this weekend.
After a pair of road wins over the Fighting Irish last weekend, the Gophers (12-2-0) have ascended to third in the national polls behind top-ranked Michigan State and defending national Denver, despite dealing with a spate of injuries and illnesses heading into a non-conference home series with Alaska.
But the fact that medical evaluations of Lamb – who leads the team with nine goals in 13 games – showed no serious structural issues with his knee feels like a win in itself.
“We’re very fortunate there was no ligament damage,” Gophers coach Bob Motzko said following the team’s Tuesday practice at 3M Arena at Mariucci. “He just got his foot off the ice. If his foot would’ve been planted, it would’ve been a different story. So we dodged a bullet.”
Janicke, a senior from Maple Grove, was given a five-minute major penalty for the hit, and he served a one-game suspension handed down by the Big Ten on Saturday night.
Lamb did not play in Saturday’s game at Notre Dame and was not on the ice for Tuesday’s practice, but the coach said they will know more about his availability later in the week. After playing just four of their first 14 games at home, Minnesota closes the pre-Christmas portion of its schedule with six straight in Minneapolis. After the two with Alaska this weekend, Big Ten rival Michigan visits, then the top-ranked Spartans close out the unofficial first half.
But the players profess that nobody is looking past the non-conference games coming up on Friday and Saturday.
“Staying focused on every team is so important, especially in college hockey. Because when you lose to a team that isn’t ranked as high as you, it definitely has a huge impact,” co-captain Jimmy Snuggerud said. “Motz and the coaching staff have done a great job of keeping the guys dialed in on what we have this weekend. They’re a good team, they’re a strong team, and we have to stay focused.”
After sophomore goalie Nathan Airey and grad student Liam Souliere split the Gophers’ first dozen games, Airey got both starts at Notre Dame.
“The one thing I didn’t want to do was split (goalies) all year and then at the end have to make a decision,” Motzko said. “In the middle of the year, I might go the other way once. Both goalies we like. You’re going to see Liam right back in there. It was just kind of a gut feel to … mix it up and not let something be a constant.”
The games with Alaska start at 7 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday.
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