Jon Merrill out with cracked vertebrae

Submitted by Worthing on

 

Berenson: Merrill cracked his vertebrae last night. Guesses it'll be weeks.

 

Bad! #blameCanada RT @Spath_Wolverine: Just showed up at Yost and Jon Merrill is in a neck brace watching practice from the stands.

08mms

October 10th, 2012 at 7:30 PM ^

Ditto, I wish the university could just commit to live-streaming everything that wasn't on the B1G.  I'd sit through whatever silly commercials Brandon would want to sell for the ad-space.

BlueAggie

October 10th, 2012 at 4:46 PM ^

It's a good thing that Connor Carrick carefully weighed the OHL's contention that he wouldn't receive regular playing time against Michigan's recent history of losing important defensemen to injury/illness/suspension (Mitera, Kampfer, Burlon, Merrill) and said, "Of course I'll be an important contributor!"

Do any of the forwards jump out as potential defenseman?  Looks like things are going to be pretty thin on the back end again this year.

Edit: I forgot about Mike Szuma, so at least there are still 7 warm bodies back there.  Hopefully Serville and Chiasson had productive offseasons.

Fifth-Generation

October 10th, 2012 at 4:49 PM ^

 

As big of a loss as he is the defensive pairings of Trouba/Moffat  Bennett/ Chiasson  could still be considered one of the best defensive groups in the ccha. our third line however not so much

 

Sambojangles

October 10th, 2012 at 4:51 PM ^

Sucks, but hopefully it keeps him a little bit fresher for the meat of the CCHA season (like last year) and we can go on another January-March run (like last year). His absence will get the younger guys more minutes early on this year, which is good for their development.

Also, I was at the game, and it was scary. We saw his head snap back immediately, and he almost fell over after he got back up to his feet. Looked like concussion, assuming that's not a factor, the broken vertebrae could almost be considered lucky. 

Get well soon and get back on the ice, Jon!

WingsNWolverines

October 10th, 2012 at 6:08 PM ^

Neck injuries are always scary if they don't heal properly and can cause issues later on. I had bad cross check to the back of the neck and it was bruised during a high school hockey tournament game in Columbus IN. It took a while to heal up. Just having a pillow under my head was uncomfortable and hurt like hell. Hope he recovers well. He's a big playmaker for us.

lhglrkwg

October 10th, 2012 at 6:13 PM ^

He stuck it out last year through his suspension and was coming in to this year presumably glad to be back 100% of the time and then this happens in the first real game. Crappy

Wolverine Devotee

October 10th, 2012 at 6:45 PM ^

I hope that asshole from Windsor gets his ass kicked in their games. Jamming someone into the boards, in the neck area is bullshit.

VictorsValiant09

October 10th, 2012 at 8:50 PM ^

HUGE blow, and I'm not sure how comfortable I feel with this possible Clare/Trouba pairing.  At least, that's what I heard.  Trouba/Moffie sounds like a lot better balance of offense/defense.