Ben Street Out 3 to 6 months

Well the news has finally become official, Ben Street will be out at least 3 months. He injured his ACL and will require surgery.

This impacts the teams in a lot of ways.

1) He is really the only senior skater for the Badgers, though Gorowsky might see the ice now w/ his absence.
2) Along w/ Geoffrion he is the most versatile forward on the team, covering PP and PK duties, along w/ the fact that he is a very good center whose faceoff skills will be missed.
3) This leaves only one captain (Geoffrion) so as the article says some assistant captians will be named. I'm guessing that will be some combo of Jamie McBain, Patrick Johnson and Ryan McDonagh.
4) The earliest Ben could be back in the lineup is late January, and that is based on everything falling right. There is a good chance Ben could be looking at a medical redshirt, since he hasn't played in 20% of the contests. I'm looking way ahead, but this is a double edge sword for the Badgers. In the short term, its going to really suck to not have Ben in the lineup, and if he can't return (I hope he doesn't rush himself only to have worse occur upon return ending his career) we'll have him back next year. Considering the circumstances that would be great, but that also eliminates one scholarship for the long list of players waiting for 2009. Playing devil's advocate way ahead, sorry.

Ben's injury means one thing, players are going to have to step up their play and fill the void. Sure Ben hasn't done much offensively this season, but he brings a boat load more to the team than that. Geoffrion might have to move back to center or Matt Thurber might be moving up a few lines and someone else centering the 4th line.

The blog would like to wish Ben the best on his surgery, and a speedy and full recovery, whether that means he returns to help us yet this season, or next Fall.