Freshman D Returns After Bad Injury and Scores Twice in OT Win
by Adam Wodon/Managing Editor (@CHN_AdamWodon)
In a season of stops and starts and enough weirdness to last everyone a while, Tucker McIntosh’s season seemed over even sooner than anyone else’s.
Instead, it turned into one of those feel-good college hockey stories that reach up from obscurity and remind hockey fans across the country, some who have never seen St. Lawrence play, why they continue to follow the sport.
McIntosh, a 6-foot-1 freshman from Toronto, got through getting acclimated to St. Lawrence University amid a pandemic. And he got through the Saints’ first two shutdowns that threatened the entire season.
But while playing in his fourth game, on Jan. 10, McIntosh hurt his arm in a collision. At first he tried to played through it. Then he even tried to practice through it the next day.
“I didn’t think it was broken,” McIntosh said. “I played the rest of the game, which was not the best idea. I tried to practice the next day.”
At that practice, he realized something wasn’t right.
“I felt it totally snap,” he said.
After getting different opinions from different doctors, he decided to get surgery so he’d have a chance to play again this year. He had the surgery in Texas, where he has family and his mom is from.
“It was the best choice to get back in the gym and get back in a regular routine,” McIntosh said.
It was one month after the surgery that he began to shoot lightly, but two weeks after that, he got x-rays and was told to ease back a bit to let things heal right. Two weeks ago he finally was able to lean on his stick, he said, and then start taking one-timers and finally get into a full regiment.
Two months later, McIntosh was ready. And then the Saints had to shut down again. Going into the ECAC playoffs, no one on St. Lawrence had played in a while, but it was worse for McIntosh, who needed the time to get back in game shape.
Good thing for the vigor of youth. McIntosh’s speedy recovery paid off big time Thursday, for both himself and his team. All he did in the 5-4 overtime win over Colgate in the ECAC semifinals, was score twice, and exhibit the flashes of promise that St. Lawrence expects to see regularly over the next few years.
“It was my first major injury and I didn’t know how to handle everything mentally,” McIntosh said. “I knew I’d be OK physically. I tried to stay positive.
“It speaks to our team. We love the adversity. We welcome it, we strive for greatness. (Coach Brent Brekke) lets us know that everything is gonna work out, you don’t need to stress, just everybody do their part and they’re gonna be successful.”
McIntosh is a classic late bloomer, who was struggling to find his game in juniors, and therefore wasn’t recruited heavily. Last season, he blossomed, and caught the eye of St. Lawrence’s new coaching staff.
“Last year I found my hockey game,” he said. “My prep coaches might not agree I’d be in this position. But I had a great coach with the Ottawa Jr. Senators, Martin Dagenais, and I played in the World Junior A Challenge and it was my first look at fast hockey vs. the U.S. and the Russians. I knew I had to get a second gear in my game. That’s where I got the confidence.”
St. Lawrence couldn’t be happier to have him back.
“He was impactful in the first part of the year before he got injured,” Brekke said. “So I’m not surprised. He’s a talented kid we leaned on a lot. How many minutes he could play was the biggest concern we had as a staff.”
McIntosh scored the first goal of Thursday’s game. His team was down 3-2 after two periods, when he and fellow defenseman Dylan Woolf, a senior who also missed some time to injury this season, scored 69 seconds apart to give the Saints a 4-3 lead at the time.
It took until overtime to finally secure the win, but a chance to play Quinnipiac for an ECAC championship is all this group can ask for.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to win two games and get a championship,” McIntosh said. “We have a great freshman group, all super close, and this motivates us for the next three years.”
