TROY -- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute hockey coach Seth Appert stopped short this morning of saying that Allen York will definitely be in goal on Friday night at St. Lawrence but did declare the junior goaltender was fit, would make the North Country trip to SLU and Clarkson and that "we expect him to play..."
York suffered a concussion two weeks ago at Quinnipiac and missed three games, two of which the Engineers lost, though, as has been well-chronicled, the fault for those defeats did not lay at the feet of backup goalie Bryce Merriam.
York has practiced at full throttle both Tuesday and today.
"He's had no symptoms since last Monday," Appert said today. "So, it's been a week and a half since he's had any symptoms, so he's full go and we expect him to play Friday night.
Appert said the chances junior defenseman Mike Bergin (calf laceration)plays on Friday are "50-50. I would have said less than that at the beginning of the week. Yesterday, he was still looking pretty ginger on it. He was getting around pretty good (today) when he was out there for about 40 minutes before practice and then for then when he was out there for the first three drills of practice; he was getting around pretty good. So, I feel better that he has a chance to play this weekend and and I also feel better that if not this weekend, that he should be ready to go next weekend.
The Engineers, one point behind Cornell for fourth place and the final bye in the preliminary round of the ECAC Hockey playoffs, finish the season at home against Princeton and Quinnipiac next week.
If they sweep all four games and Cornell suffers one loss -- the Big Red must still face third-place Dartmouth on Saturday and second-place Yale next week -- they'll nail down that No. 4 spot in the ECACH standings.