Barriball Hurt in Gopher Practice, Out For the Season?

I have just heard from a few sources (Hammy's Twitter and confirming reports from the U) that Senior Forward Jay Barriball was injured fairly severely in practice and may be out for the season. I do not know yet what type of injury Barriball has incurred, but any time a player has a potential season-ending injury you always think that it has to do with a torn knee ligament.

Let's hope that this report is false, but I doubt it. The sources I've heard from are pretty trustworthy. This would leave the Gophers two men short as Freshman Defenseman Nick Leddy is out for the next two months with a broken jaw.

The good news is that Barriball, a senior, would be able to appeal to the NCAA for a medical hardship waiver and another year of eligibility. This means he may be able to come back next year if he is truly out for the rest of the year. Right now, though, this seems like a pretty thin silver lining in an otherwise horrible blow to this Gopher team. On a team that struggles to score, Barriball was one of the players we had come to count on to put the puck in the net. He had just reached the 100 career point milestone in Friday's game against Alaska-Anchorage with an assist. Barriball became only the 79th player in Gopher history to have recorded 100 career points. Hopefully he'll be able to record many more in his Gopher career, either this year or next.