Popped in on Alaska Aces coach Rob Murray in his Sullivan Arena office a moment ago and he was peering hard at his laptop -- looking for defensemen, no doubt.
Murray said veteran blueliner Brad Cole suffered a lower-body injury in Tuesday night's 3-1 exhibition loss to the Indy Fuel and will not be in the lineup in Wednesday night's rematch.
That leaves the Aces with just five blueliners, and that number is only because ECHL All-Rookie defenseman Brad Richard returned to the team after attending training camp with the AHL's Chicago Wolves.
The Aces are hurting for numbers on the blue line, where Cole's absence from the lineup leaves just Corey Syvret and Richard as proven ECHL defensemen.The Aces already were down one D-man when rookie Mike Slowikowski left the opening day of training camp early with a back ailment that has kept him shelved since.
Murray said he will play five defensemen Wednesday night. Tyler Currier, a forward who played defense Tuesday night, will skate at forward, Murray said.
Murray has often lamented that it seems like training-camp clockwork that when a player goes down with an injury, it's a defenseman.
In any event, the Aces will also on Wednesday night be missing center Tim Coffman, who Murray said suffered an upper-body injury in Tuesday's game. 9UPDATE: Nope, the Aces say Coffman is good to go for Wednesday's game). So, Murray tonight will dress 13 forwards and five defensemen. ECHL teams are permitted 16 skaters in regular-season and playoff games, but that number is boosted to 18 in the preseason so bench bosses can get more looks at players before making their cuts.
As for getting defensemen, Orlando still owes the Aces a player from a previous deal between the clubs and Murray has one of his four "veteran'' slots open, which could come in handy if he can find an experienced D-man who still is looking for a job.