During the Mavericks' week off between the Denver and Michigan Tech series, they had a practice in which 11 players were unavailable due to injury. Take away the three healthy goaltenders, and the team had just 13 skaters practicing.
What a difference a couple of weeks have made.
Going into this weekend's series against St. Cloud State, the Mavericks still aren't 100 percent, but they continue to get healthier. Coach Troy Jutting said on Wednesday that forwards J.P. Burkemper and Max Gaede have been cleared to play games. Both were injured during MSU's opening weekend at RPI. The two began skating last week, but will they have their hockey legs for this week? Jutting said he would like to give each of them one game against the Huskies.
At the very least, the Mavericks have some options at forward now.
Defensively, however, Minnesota State remains a bit short-handed still, so Joe Schiller will play there again this weekend. Two players and Jutting commented this week on Schiller's play on the blue line against Tech, giving him rave reviews. Jutting said Schiller might have been one of the team's best players all weekend.
Defensemen Tyler Elbrecht, Danny Heath and Brett Stern remain out. Forward Chase Grant is, too, and it sounds like he might be out for awhile. Jutting didn't have definitive return dates for any of those players.
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