TROY -- Rensselaer goaltender Allen York's concussion is a mild one; not mild enough to allow him to play this weekend, however.
The slender junior will again be sidelined when the Engineers battle Colgate Friday night at 7 and Cornell Saturday afternoon at 3:30.
Sophomore backup Bryce Merriam, fresh off a big victory over Princeton last weekend, will man the pipes as the Engineers, 9-5-1 in the ECAC Hockey play, attempt to hang on to third place and put some distance between them and Cornell and Dartmouth, both 9-5-2.
The top four teams in the ECACH's final standings receive a bye into the playoff quarterterfinals.
York hung out in the RPI locker room and the trainer's Chris Thompson's room while the rest of the Engineers practiced today.
"I have to take it easy be symptom-free before I can have a week to slowly get back into things," York said. "Today, I've been good (no symptons) so far. Hopefully, that will continue and next Tuesday I can be back to normal practice and all that stuff."
On the other hand, it's quite possible that York may not be ready for next weekend's trip to St. Lawrence and Clarkson.
York doesn't like being on the sidelines but ...
"This is my sixth concussion now, so I have to be careful with them."
And, so will RPI doctors.
Merriam, 2-1-1, stopped 39 of 41 shots in the victory at Princeton. The Bethel Park, Pa. native has a 3.20 goals against average -- only 149:48 minutes -- had has stopped 91.2 percent of the shots he's faced.