[Yale] Sean Backman out for the season

[KenP]

Yale's #2 goal scorer, #3 in points.....

http://www.uscho.com/news/college-hockey/id,18301/CareerLikelyOverforYalesBackman.html

Recently honored ECAC Hockey first-team forward and Ivy League player of the year Sean Backman seriously injured his foot in practice last Sunday, and is likely done for the year, according to reports by the New Haven Register and Yale Daily News.

This would also mark the end of the senior's NCAA experience, following a career highlighted by league co-rookie of the year honors, four All-ECAC team seasons, two team MVP awards, an ECAC Hockey tournament MVP award, Walter Brown Award semifinalist status, and 77 goals with 49 assists for 126 points in 122 games for the Bulldogs.

The local product of Cos Cob, Conn., had 21 goals and 35 points in 29 games this year. He accounted for just beyond a sixth of the team's goals, and was under consideration for a spot on the Frozen Four Skills Challenge team.

Yale — ranked sixth in the nation — earned the ECAC Hockey regular-season title this year, and will play in the quarterfinals next weekend after enjoying a bye week during the first round of the league playoffs.

[billhoward]

They could have been a Frozen Four team. There needs to be somebody from the ECAC in the FF more often than once or so each decade. Cornell's stature is enhanced if we have good opponents in the Ivy League and ECAC.

Did Yale really have a practice one day after playing two games in two days - with no games in the offing for 13 days?

[Al DeFlorio]

Did Yale really have a practice one day after playing two games in two days - with no games in the offing for 13 days?

You can bet Allain wishes he hadn't.

[nyc94]

Did Yale really have a practice one day after playing two games in two days - with no games in the offing for 13 days?

You can bet Allain wishes he hadn't.

Someone on the USCHO boards is spreading a rumor that the injury didn't happen in practice.

[TimV]

There's a different speculation about the injury on the Yale Thread on uscho.

QPac fan asks a hard question.

[billhoward]

If you wanted to start a rumor, that's the one to start: an athletee being drunk and doing something stupid. It's something you can't easily disprove since if it happened at the rink in practice only perhaps two dozen people were there to have seen it. Whereas if it happened at a party or in a bar, eventually half the sons of Eli will have a friend of a friend who was there (they say). The Yale Daily News would have the best chance with its contacts to ferret out the information but even an independent paper like Yale's still has some inner loyalty to the school it supports, they might wait until after the season, and by that time, who cares, so why track it down?

As for the Q poster's idea that you'd be ultra careful leadng up to the playoffs, I don't think that's the way an individual sees risk.

[amerks127]

If you wanted to start a rumor, that's the one to start: an athletee being drunk and doing something stupid.

You mean something like this?

http://www.uscho.com/news/college-hockey/id,18325/MaineSuspendsGoaltenderDarlingAheadofPlayoffs.html

[Josh '99]

If you wanted to start a rumor, that's the one to start: an athletee being drunk and doing something stupid.

You mean something like this?

http://www.uscho.com/news/college-hockey/id,18325/MaineSuspendsGoaltenderDarlingAheadofPlayoffs.html

Sure, but you expect that kind of stupidity from a player at Maine.  At Yale, maybe not so much.

[RichH]

If you wanted to start a rumor, that's the one to start: an athletee being drunk and doing something stupid.

You mean something like this?

http://www.uscho.com/news/college-hockey/id,18325/MaineSuspendsGoaltenderDarlingAheadofPlayoffs.html

Sure, but you expect that kind of stupidity from a player at Maine.  At Yale, maybe not so much.

ORLY? Two words: Gourmet Heaven.

[Josh '99]

If you wanted to start a rumor, that's the one to start: an athletee being drunk and doing something stupid.

You mean something like this?

http://www.uscho.com/news/college-hockey/id,18325/MaineSuspendsGoaltenderDarlingAheadofPlayoffs.html

Sure, but you expect that kind of stupidity from a player at Maine.  At Yale, maybe not so much.

ORLY? Two words: Gourmet Heaven.

I said "maybe".  :-}

[ebilmes]

A "pool accident"

http://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2010/03/11_backman.php

[nshapiro]

Article says "He has returned home and is not currently with the team"

I guess Yale is one of those schools where a senior is not close to graduation, so just blow off school because your eligibility is up.

[Al DeFlorio]

Similar column in the New Haven Register: http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/03/11/sports/doc4b9977f8aecbc071931591.txt

Best reader comment:  "You gotta wait till the water is frozen first DUH!"

[Avash]

Article says "He has returned home and is not currently with the team"

I guess Yale is one of those schools where a senior is not close to graduation, so just blow off school because your eligibility is up.

Yale's on spring break.

[Jim Hyla]

Article says "He has returned home and is not currently with the team"

I guess Yale is one of those schools where a senior is not close to graduation, so just blow off school because your eligibility is up.

I'm always amazed how quickly we respond when we don't know the facts. He just had major surgery. We have no idea if he's able to walk. Maybe he has to be in bed with his leg elevated so it doesn't swell. Maybe it's in a cast and if it swells it could compromise the circulation to his foot. Maybe he just wants to be home and get some of mom's chicken soup.

I can imagine many medical situations where he couldn't go right back to school. I think all of us must have had some scary medical situations in our family, and until we know the facts, we ought to keep quiet and let him get better.