Our Own Worst Enemy

Usually a bye week is good for recuperating injuries, getting people healthy and gearing up for the next opponent. That's not how we roll at Michigan. Scooter Vaughan was already injured in an off-ice incident (though there is still a chance he plays this weekend amazingly), and now Matt Rust has gone down as well.

Rivals reported yesterday that he went knee-to-knee with Eric Elmblad and apparently Red will update his status after practice today. Keep your fingers crossed on this one, because rumors are swirling that he has a broken leg. I'll update this story when something comes out officially. Rivals or The Daily's blog would be the best bet to break it, no pun intended.

The good news is that The Daily has a quote from Kolarik saying it's 99% that he will play this weekend. Vaughan will skate today and indicated that he hopes to play this weekend. Berenson said NSFMF--he won't rush Vaughan back.

Edit: The official word on Rust is that he has a hairline fracture in his fibula and is week-to-week. In terms of things that can be called a "broken leg", this is probably one of the better ones, because the fibula does not bear any weight, it stabilizes the ankle.

As a reference, last year Carlos Boozer had a hairline fracture of his fibula and missed about 3 1/2 weeks. That would put Rust back in time for the Frozen Four if Michigan makes it. Bare minimum, he probably misses the entire CCHA Tournament. Carl Hagelin will slide to center and Tim Miller will move up to the second line.

Vaughan did not skate after all, so it's probably safe to call him 100% out this weekend.