What could UND's lineup look like this weekend against Mercyhurst?

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Dec. 31—GRAND FORKS — There was a buzz in Ralph Engelstad Arena late last week as players returned from Christmas break.

"Guys said it was great to be home, but they're so excited," UND coach Dane Jackson said. "The excitement about our mission ahead is palpable. Guys are fired up to be a part of this and excited for the opportunity to compete and see how good we can become. It's an exciting time. You can feel the energy."

That's a good sign.

The players who are around may have to provide a bit of extra energy this weekend when No. 4 UND hosts Mercyhurst at 7:07 p.m. Friday and 6:07 p.m. Saturday in Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Defenseman E.J. Emery, defenseman Keaton Verhoeff, winger Will Zellers and center Cole Reschny are in the Twin Cities competing at the World Junior Championship. They will miss this weekend's series.

Defensemen Jake Livanavage and Abram Wiebe are in Davos, Switzerland, where they

completed playing in the Spengler Cup on Wednesday morning

with an NCAA all-star team.

Winger Josh Zakreski is still recovering from a longterm injury. Defenseman Ian Engel is dealing with an ailment and is questionable.

"It's going to be all healthy bodies in," Jackson said. "Everyone available is going to play. We've talked a lot about our depth this year. We think we have good players sitting out. Some guys that haven't gotten to be in there much like Dalton Andrew, he'll be in. We have full belief that the guys we put in will be ready to go and be good players for us."

UND (14-4) is down to four defensemen at practice — Andrew Strathmann, Sam Laurila, Bennett Zmolek and Jayden Jubenvill. But UND is hoping to get Livanavage and Wiebe back for the series.

They were initially scheduled to fly into Grand Forks a mere hours before Friday's series opener, but the Fighting Hawks have re-booked them with the hopes of a Thursday night return if all goes as planned.

How much energy will they have?

That's another question.

If they play both games, it will be six games in nine days with a cross-ocean trip in the middle.

"I think they should stay an extra day (in Switzerland)," Mercyhurst coach Rick Gotkin joked, "maybe give those guys some extra time off."

Mercyhurst won't have any sympathy for UND missing players.

The Lakers played without 12 players during their last regular-season game against Holy Cross on Dec. 6. They dressed just 10 forwards — and two were defensemen.

"I've been doing this for a long time," said Gotkin, the nation's longest-tenured coach at 38 years. "This is not an excuse at all, but I have never seen this many injuries. It's absolutely crazy. We played two or three games where we had eight natural forwards. I've never seen something like that. But hockey players love to play. Having that short bench was interesting to watch, because these guys kind of embraced it."

There is some good news.

Mercyhurst is expecting to get five of those 12 players back this weekend — forward Will Schumacher of Prior Lake, Minn., forward Noah Sedore, defenseman Kaden Muir, defenseman Caleb Price and backup goalie Salvatore Evola.

The Lakers will still be without seven others and plan to keep defensemen Tyler Nasca and Jaryd Sych up front.

"They did well," Gotkin said of Nasca and Sych. "We're going to have them still play as fourth-line forwards. We'll dress six defensemen. We'll have one healthy scratch. I'm hoping we'll still have one healthy scratch on Saturday."

Mercyhurst is expected to remain without forward Barrett Brooks, forward Riley Fitzgerald, forward Alexander Dimitriadis, forward Tyler Haskins of Rochester, Minn., forward Spencer Smith, forward Joey Serpa and goaltender Simon Bucheler. Smith and Bucheler are expected to be out for the year.

"Our guys have handled it pretty well," Gotkin said. "Everyone has injuries. We've been really fortunate over the years that we haven't had something like this happen. We have a 30-man roster, which I really don't like, but in this case, I do."

The crushing injuries haven't helped Mercyhurst climb out of Atlantic Hockey's basement.

The Lakers enter this weekend 0-15-1.

They've been in several games but have struggled to close them out.

"Our record isn't good, but we haven't been as bad as our record," Gotkin said. "We just don't score enough goals. That's been our biggest Achilles' heel. It's hard to win when you can only score one or two goals a night."

Jackson said he doesn't expect his team to overlook Mercyhurst, despite its winless record.

"This group has been quite good at being focused and ready to compete," Jackson said. "We haven't given too many games away, where we weren't ready to go. We've got a lot of guys who are accountable guys. They're ready to go to battle. We count on the fact that guys will continue to show up and be professional. We know how important the last two nonconference games are. These games affect the rankings."

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