I spoke with Joey Benik a bit at practice today. He said his cast is scheduled to come off on Oct. 29. Benik broke his leg the first day of official practice. He said that he got a good report on an X-ray he had over the weekend.
Of course, getting the cast off and being ready to be in a game is a different thing. Add at least two more weeks to when he gets the cast off to when he might be able to get into a game. An educated guess is that, if things go well, he might be ready for the Nov. 23-24 series at Minnesota-Duluth. The coaching staff, after last season’s situation with Drew LeBlanc, is staying pretty quiet about a comeback date for Benik.
BERTSCH SHOULD BE BACK TO PRACTICE WEDNESDAY
It was precautionary, but sophomore forward Brooks Bertsch did not practice Tuesday. Bertsch went down to block a shot on Saturday at New Hampshire, went down on one knee and a shot found an area between the shin pads and the breezers. He should be back at practice on Wednesday.
A COUPLE MINOR CHANGES IN THE LINEUP
Sophomore forward Joey Holka was the best player on the ice on Friday for St. Cloud State, according to coach Bob Motzko. On Saturday, he was moved up from the fourth line to a line with Jimmy Murray and Nic Dowd. Holka responded with a goal, helped set up another and was a team-leading plus-3 on the weekend. Holka was on that line again for practice Tuesday.
“He stepped up and played two determined games. After we moved him up, he scored a goal and had an (unofficial) assist. We need more of that,” Motzko said.
