Key Thunderwolves forward breaks ankle, out for up to six weeks

Kelin Ainsworth’s OUA hockey season appears to over. Goaltender Jeff Bosch is taking a wait-and-see approach.

Ainsworth suffered a broken ankle in Saturday’s overtime loss to Guelph and will be lost to the Lakehead Thunderwolves for up to six weeks.

Bosch, the oft-injured starting goaltender, took a puck off his mask in the first period of the same game and left with a possible concussion – potentially his second of the season.

Coach Bill McDonald said on Tuesday the Martensville, Sask. native will test out his noggin at Wednesday’s practice to see if he’ll be able to go this weekend against Waterloo and Laurier as the Wolves (9-13-3) attempt to secure a 14th straight playoff berth in the final two games of the regular season.

Injuries are a part of the game, McDonald said, but these two come at the most inopportune time, with LU in a three-way tie for sixth, but only a single point up on ninth- and 10th-place Brock and York in the OUA West.

Only the top eight teams in each conference make the playoffs.

“It’s just devastating news,” McDonald said of losing Ainsworth, one of his top centres and top point-getters, third on the Thunderwolves with 22 points in 25 games – and the team’s second-leading goal scorer with an even dozen tallies.

“Everybody who watches the games, he eats up a lot of minutes for us. He plays on the power play, he kills penalties. And obviously his regular shift too. He’s a heart-and-soul type of guy who leaves it all on the ice and he’ll be sorely missed.”

It’s definitely a huge loss, said rookie forward Brennen Dubchak, who on Tuesday accepted his team’s athlete of the month award for January, after a three-goal, six-assist stretch.

“He’s definitely one of our best centre-men and he’s a great guy to have in the room,” Dubchak said. “He’s a great competitor, he leads by example and he’s going to be a huge loss. But like everyone says, you’ve got to battle through adversity and this is the time to do it, coming into playoffs.”

McDonald isn’t sure what he’ll do to replace the 23-year-old Thunder Bay native.

One possibility is to move sophomore Matt Kaarela into the position, though the former Thunder Bay North Stars star has only played 10 times this season, collecting a single assist.

Another option is inserting rookie Austin McDonald into the lineup, taking advantage of his penalty-killing abilities.

It could also mean increased ice time for second-year forward David Quesnele.

“It’s part of hockey. We’ve got to move on. We’ve got two huge games this weekend and we’re still kind of holding to our own,” McDonald said. “We don’t really look at the standings because we’re trying to win our games. If we win our games, we’ll look at the standings at the end.”

The situation is less clear for Bosch, who missed most of the first half after his head smashed into the ice in an Oct. 10 game against York.

“I talked to the doctor,” McDonald said. “I haven’t really talked to (Jeff) yet. But the doctor suggested, through talking to Jeff, to show up tomorrow and see how he feels. I guess more or less it’s going to be his ball.”

If Bosch can’t go, second-year goaltender Justin McDonald will get the call.