Jay Barriball skated but didn't practice Wednesday as he battles what the University of Minnesota men's hockey team is calling a lower body injury, suffered last weekend. If the senior captain can't practice today, he won't play this weekend against fourth-ranked Denver.
"I think if everything keeps shaping up, I think there's a good chance I'll be back," Barriball said.
The team's leading scorer with 12 goals among 23 points, Barriball was injured in the first period of a 6-4 loss Saturday at Minnesota-Duluth. He declined to address the exact nature of the injury.
"It was just kind of a weird deal, but it feels better than it did on Saturday night," he said. "It's getting better, and it's nothing that's going to require anything too big."
Asked if it might require postseason surgery, Barriball said, "No, not as of now."
Coach Don Lucia said Barriball won't play this weekend against the Pioneers if he can't go through a full practice today.
"It doesn't look like . . . anything serious involved there," he said, "and if he can't play this weekend, he should be able to play next weekend (at Wisconsin)."
Minnesota (11-11-4) needs to start making hay if it wants to be at home for the first round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs. At 8-9-3 in conference play, the Gophers are a point behind Alaska Anchorage for the last home seed.
They also could use victories that would earn them credibility with the PairWise Rankings, used
to determine the NCAA tournament's 10 at-large berths. Victories over Denver (17-6-5, 13-4-3) and seventh-ranked Wisconsin (19-8-3, 11-7-2) would fit the bill.
"We need to win," Lucia said. "How many points do we need? Some of that depends on what we do, and some of it depends on what other teams do. Teams are going to play each other, so somebody's got to lose.
"You concentrate on one game at a time. Can we win two games against Denver? It's going to be difficult."
It would be easier with a healthy Barriball, a top-line winger and the best scorer on a team that doesn't score much. He skated on his own Wednesday but didn't practice after failing to get through Tuesday's practice.
Barriball said he won't jeopardize the rest of the season to play this weekend.
"I think we're thinking that tomorrow I'm going to have to put in a good, solid practice just to be able to play," he said. "That's kind of what we've talked about, and right now that's the target, to get back tomorrow and have a good practice and be fine by Friday."