UNH All-American Trevor van Riemsdyk Injures Left Ankle

UNH's Trevor van Riemsdyk
Injures Left Ankle in Union Game

Last season, as a sophomore at the University of New Hampshire, defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk was named a First-Team All-American. TvR played in all 39 games and scored 8 goals and 25 assists. So far this season, van Riemsdyk has played up to the standards of an All-American as he leads all Hockey East defensemen in scoring with 4 goals and 19 assists in 26 games. TvR was recently honored as the only UNH player on the ballot for the 2014 Hobey Baker Award.

It's difficult to overstate the importance of van Riemsdyk's contributions to the fortunes of the 2013-14 UNH Wildcats. He is the top defenseman, along with senior Eric Knodel, in the starting lineup and on both the power play and penalty kill units.

Heading into this past weekend's games against 6th-Ranked Union College, UNH was in serious need of wins against non-conference opponents. Their out-of-conference record of 8-5-1 was respectable and earning wins against a top-ranked team would help their chances of qualifying for the 2014 NCAA Playoffs. Over the last decade, UNH has qualified for the NCAA Tournament 9 times on the strength of their strong performances against highly-ranked opponents.

The game last night against Union College had added importance after UNH lost to them 3-1 on Friday night. From the opening faceoff, UNH played with high energy and intensity. As expected, Trevor van Riemsdyk found opportunities to inject himself into the UNH offense. It was on such a play that TvR was injured.

With a little more than 3 minutes remaining in the first period, van Riemsdyk carried the puck through center ice, eluding Union sophomore Matt Wilkins, and entered the Union zone. Wilkins checked TvR into the boards and van Riemsdyk awkwardly fell backward onto the ice. He tried to get up but went back down to the ice in obvious pain. UNH trainer Glenn Riefenstahl worked on TvR's left ankle for several minutes. As UNH fans looked on with obvious concern, Trevor managed to roll over onto his side then get up to his hands and right knee. With his arms around teammates Grayson Downing and Dan Correale, TvR was helped off the ice and down the runway into the locker room. He was not baring any weight on his left leg.



van Riemsdyk did not return to the game and in the second period, UNH lost another key player when Grayson Downing was hit in the right shoulder by a Union player at mid-ice. Without them in the game, UNH and Union played a evenly-matched game but UNH lost 3-1. Following the game, Coach Dick Umile had this to say about van Riemsdyk and Downing's injuries:

“We’ll wait until they see the doctors, X-rays…I know nothing at this point, but it doesn’t look good. … Maybe we’ll get a break.”