EVANSVILLE, Ind. – As the Christmas holiday approaches, Evansville IceMen fans might want to forget about gadgets and toys and instead ask Santa Claus for improved health for their favorite hockey team.
After a dismal 0-6-1 start in October, the improving IceMen began November with a 5-3-0 record, including back-to-back road victories against North Division leaders Cincinnati and Fort Wayne on November 15 and 17.
However, the team’s recent surge now could have very well been short-circuited by an overload of injuries.
In a span of less than a week, the IceMen lost four key players to injury. After dealing with back spasms earlier in the season, defenseman and alternate captain Philippe Plante was placed on injured reserve November 15 after being diagnosed with a more serious disc injury that may require surgery with a recovery time of two months or more.
Fellow blueliners Jake Obermeyer (broken foot sustained in Cincinnati November 15) and Aaron Gens (broken hand suffered in Fort Wayne November 17) are both out indefinitely, although Gens hopes to be fitted with a special cast that will allow him to return within a few weeks.
Perhaps most significantly, captain and leading scorer Todd Robinson (16 points in 16 games) sustained a knee injury in a loss to Reading at home November 18, in which the undermanned IceMen only had four healthy defensemen. Robinson’s status is not fully known, but the preliminary indication is that he could miss more than a month of action.
All of these injuries came just days after the news broke that rookie defenseman Austin Madaisky, a Columbus Blue Jackets prospect who sparked the IceMen power-play and compiled five points in a five-game stretch after his assignment to Evansville, suffered a torn ligament in his wrist that will likely require season-ending surgery.
The IceMen had already lost winger Oliver Gabriel (leg laceration) and defenseman Jesse Perrin (broken foot) in October. Gabriel is not expected to return until January at the earliest, while Perrin may be able to rejoin the active roster within the next week.
So barely a month into the season, the IceMen have already lost at least 44 man-games due to injury and that number will now grow even more quickly after the rapid expansion of the injury list in recent days.
IceMen fans who are on Santa’s “nice” list may also want to ask the big guy for better health for the Peoria Rivermen (one of Evansville’s AHL affiliates), whose own injury woes have compounded Evansville’s issues. Five prospects who have suited up for the IceMen this season are currently with the Rivermen due to a rash of injuries in Peoria as well, further eroding the roster depth in Evansville.
Possibly the most telling statistic about Evansville’s roster instability is that in the season’s first 16 games, the IceMen have never iced the same 18-man lineup for more than two consecutive games.
In my season-preview story here on ProHockeyNews.com, I said that the IceMen have ample talent but will need to build chemistry and avoid injuries in order to succeed. The latter is clearly not going to happen anytime soon, and as a result, the former may not happen for a while either. It is tough to find the right recipe when the available ingredients are constantly changing.
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