Injury

The Tampa Tribune’s Erik Erlendsson is reporting Jeff Halpern's knee injury he sustained in the USA's 5-4 loss to Canada Tuesday at the World Championships is a ruptured ACL of his right knee in addition to a Grade III sprain to his MCL and a slight tear to the lateral meniscus.

Erlendsson reports the USA captain will wait 4-6 weeks to allow the MCL injury to heal before undergoing reconstructive surgery on the ACL tendon. He is expected to miss 5-6 months of action from the time of the surgery on the ACL, which means the earliest Halpern could return to action would be late December or early January.

Lightning 2006 7th rounder and University of Massachusetts-Amherst junior defenseman John Wessbecker has not played since November 30 due to an undisclosed injury. According to the New England Daily Collegian, quoting recently re-signed UMass head coach Don Cahoon, there is no timetable for Wessbecker's return to the UMass lineup, and Cahoon is not going to hurry him back.

"He's definitely out for the foreseeable future. There's no way of knowing exactly how long because of the type of injury," Cahoon told the Collegian.

Any specifics regarding Wessbecker's injury have not been released.

Wessbecker has 3 assists in 14 games this year for the Minutemen, and is 1-6-7 in his 88 game collegiate career. Wessbecker, from The Blake School in Minnesota, was All-Conference and won the Hobey Baker Award for character in his senior year of high school.

The Lightning have recalled center Blair Jones from Norfolk of the AHL. The move comes after the club learned winger Michel Ouellet is likely to miss 4-6 weeks with a separated shoulder.

Quick note from the pregame in Binghamton: the rumors about Karri Ramo returning tonight were true. The young netminder is in net. That's the good news. Vladimir Mihalik out with a non-serious groin strain.

According to the Lightning, Everett Silvertips defenseman Dane Crowley will miss both of Everett's games this weekend due to injuries sustained from a blindside hit Tuesday night against Kamloops.

Nick Patterson of the Everett Herald reports Crowley received a facial cut and a concussion on a hit from Blazers defenseman Mike Gauthier. Patterson states there was no penalty called on the play, but "the Tips claim it was a hit to the head from behind and are weighing whether to send a video of the hit to the league for review."

Crowley has 7 goals and 5 assists for 12 points in 23 games for Everett this season.