OMAHA, Neb. — A Hobey Baker Award finalist is out for the “foreseeable future.”
A World Junior Championship candidate will be gone for months.
Two of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s best defensemen are sidelined longterm with no promise that they’ll make it back by the end of the season.
Longterm injuries to prominent players are shaping the first month of the college hockey season, and the pre-Christmas standings could largely be determined by which teams are best equipped to navigate those injuries.
UND is confronting it with the loss of Josh Zakreski, who had surgery Tuesday.
Penn State will be without Aiden Fink, a Hobey finalist last season, until the second semester, Nittany Lions coach Guy Gadowsky said.
St. Cloud State top-pair defenseman Tanner Henricks will be out for three months. He suffered an injury while falling after taking a hit from his own brother, Western Michigan forward Ty Henricks. Tanner was on Team USA’s radar for the World Junior Championship.
Defending NCAA champ Western Michigan played last weekend without two of its top defensemen, NHL Draft picks Joona Väisänen and Zack Sharp. While Sharp’s return is around the corner, Väisänen is expected to be out longterm. Väisänen, a Pittsburgh Penguins pick, is one of the country’s best defensemen.
Speaking of teams missing two top defensemen, Colorado College has been playing without Philippe Blais-Savoie and Max Burkholder. Blais-Savoie is probably two or three weeks from returning, but Burkholder’s absence is expected to be longterm.
Michigan also announced this week that freshman Henry Mews, sixth in scoring among NCAA defensemen, is out for the season.
Other teams are dealing with shorter-term injuries to star players. Boston University is without first-round pick Cole Eiserman. Boston College is without Andre Gasseau and Oskar Jellvik.
Then, there’s the case of the University of Minnesota.
While most teams carry a minimum of 15 forwards, the Gophers carried 14 for a fourth-straight season. For the third season in a row, the 14th forward was a Division-III transfer.
It worked the last three seasons. The Gophers won two Big Ten titles and reached an NCAA Frozen Four in 2023. But it backfired this season.
Due to injuries to forwards Teddy Townsend, Tanner Ludtke, August Falloon, the Gophers have had to move defenseman Axel Begley up front and give their Division-III transfer a regular shift. An injury to Cal Thomas on the back end thinned out the Gophers there, too.
They are now 2-7-1 entering this weekend’s series against Notre Dame. The Gophers are struggling to generate offense. In the past five seasons, the Gophers have been held under 20 shots in a game just five times. This season, it happened five times in October alone.
Others dealing with issues have had their challenges, too.
Only three teams in Hockey East are sub-.500. Two are Boston University (3-5-1) and Boston College (2-4-1). Western Michigan, without Väisänen and Sharp, gave up 10 goals in a weekend series for the first time since December 2022. And Colorado College got swept at home by Omaha.
While it’s impossible to replace top-of-the-lineup players in college hockey, the first half of the season could be dictated by which teams recruited the best depth.
Players who were slotted in as the 13th to 15th forwards and seventh to ninth defensemen are now being called upon to play important roles.
Josephson shows he’s ready
Not many players took as much grief for leaving the Canadian Hockey League for college hockey as UND’s Ollie Josephson.
Josephson’s own general manager in Red Deer told The Pipeline Show that it “isn’t a good move for Ollie” and said “he’s certainly not going to be a top player on their team.”
UND coach Dane Jackson and general manager Bryn Chyzyk disagreed. They were thrilled to pick up a commitment in August from the former Red Deer captain.
Josephson, a fourth-round pick of the Seattle Kraken, has proven he’s more than ready to play college hockey. He had four points last weekend against a top-10 team and was named the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s rookie of the week.
Josephson was used in nearly every situation for UND last weekend — 5-on-5, power play, penalty kill, 6-on-5 and 3-on-3. Few freshmen in the country are playing in all situations like Josephson.
Omaha’s odd jersey problem
Last weekend, Omaha wore its home white jerseys for a road series at Colorado College.
Why? Because the Mavericks still do not have road jerseys ready.
Omaha coach Mike Gabinet acknowledged at this week’s press conference that Omaha’s jerseys were believed to be lost in Long Beach, Calif., when shipping containers fell into the sea.
Gabinet said the road jerseys are currently being lettered and numbered, and he’s hopeful they’ll be ready for Omaha’s road series next weekend at Minnesota Duluth.
Brandon Holt’s SportsCenter moment
Former Grand Forks Central defenseman Brandon Holt ended up on ESPN’s SportsCenter last weekend with the No. 2 play of the day.
Holt, a senior defenseman at Maine, scored an overtime winner against Boston University, then fell through the door in the boards while celebrating.
Holt has nine points in his last five games for the Black Bears. Only two defensemen in the country have more points than Holt.
Quick hits
UND has alternated between driving and flying to Omaha over the years. Because the Fighting Hawks rode a bus this year, they left Wednesday, a day earlier than normal. They practiced in Ralph Engelstad Arena on Wednesday morning, then hit the road. They made a 40-minute stop in Sioux Falls to stretch their legs at the mall.
On Thursday, UND practiced at Baxter Arena from 4-5 p.m., ending with the weekly shootout competition. The goaltenders won it for the first time this season.
Zakreski is the lone UND player who did not make the trip.
UND commit and former East Grand Forks Senior High forward Brock Schultz was traded from the Waterloo Black Hawks to the Sioux Falls Stampede this week.
UND commit Ethan MacKenzie is now the second-leading defenseman scorer in the Western Hockey League, only behind future first-round pick Ryan Lin. MacKenzie, who will come to UND next fall, has 20 points in 19 games.
UND forward recruit Eli McKamey was Team Canada’s Player of the Game in their opener at the World Under-17 Challenge. McKamey missed most of last season due to injury.
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