The injury curse that has time and again crippled the Excel Hull Stingrays and particularly their defence has struck once more.
19 year old blueliner Craig Mitchell, who re-signed in the summer for his second year with the club, broke his hand when blocking a shot in Braehead and will now be out for four to six weeks, a cruel blow to Sylvain Cloutier and his side.
The importance of a deep squad and a six strong defence is now evident with the team's blueline options limited to five defencemen, equivalent to two lines, leaving one extra player rotating in.
Had the Rays coach been able to opt for the shorter squad which he signed for the Packs the club would now be down to just the bare minimum four players at the back with no room for error on anyone's part.
However, given that Cloutier has a deep squad and ten available forwards, of which one or two are able to revert to defence, this injury won't necessarily affect the numbers at the back, particularly if he decides to move Jason Silverthorn back there.
Either way it is a devastating blow for both the Rays and Mitchell, who had once again been handed an important role on the team for the year ahead, after they had clinched their first two points of the year in Edinburgh last night.
