Colorado College defenseman Eamonn McDermott will miss at least a month because of an apparent knee injury that he suffered this week during practice – a significant blow to a well-seasoned blue line that stayed healthy during the first half of the season.

Tigers coach Scott Owens revealed Thursday that McDermott, a sophomore, has a lower-body injury, declining to specify the severity of his ailment. McDermott viewed workouts from the bench, with his left knee in a brace, and he has been undergoing treatment with CC trainer Jason Bushie, Owens said, adding that McDermott should return this season.

“He’s a top-four guy for us. But we’ve got some veteran guys,” said Owens, who plans to start Arthur Bidwill in McDermott’s place Friday, when the No. 8 Tigers (12-7-1, 7-3-1 Western Collegiate Hockey Association) open a WCHA series against St. Cloud State at World Arena. Owens also confirmed Josh Thorimbert will start in goal over Joe Howe.

Paired with Gabe Guentzel, McDermott has two goals, both coming on the power play, and six assists, along with 23 penalty minutes, 20 blocked shots and a plus-three rating in 19 games. Owens said McDermott has “played a lot of minutes for us, and he played on special teams. We are carrying nine defensemen, so we’ve got hopefully some other guys who will be able to step in and fill the void. We’ve been relatively lucky with injuries.”

Scouting St. Cloud State: This marks the first weekend the Huskies (8-10-4, 5-6-3) will play without left wing Cam Reid, the team’s fifth-leading scorer who quit Monday to join the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. His departure hurts St. Cloud State the most on a power play that’s clicking at 20 percent, as Reid had two of his six goals with the man advantage. It also leaves the Huskies with only 12 healthy forwards, meaning if somebody goes down, forwards from other lines will have to assume multiple shifts or a defenseman will be forced into switching positions – something that already happened with Brandon Burrell and Sam Zabkowicz. Plus, it makes St. Cloud State juggle its lines, with Travis Novak still centering the top group and other centers to include Nic Dowd, Joe Rehkamp and Jordy Christian. … Top goaltender Mike Lee (hip) didn’t travel to Colorado Springs, so backup Ryan Faragher, who is 6-8-3 with a 2.80 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage, will add to his streak of 16 straight starts. Defenseman Kevin Gravel returns after missing the past two games – a home split against No. 10 Western Michigan two weeks ago – to play at the world junior championships in Canada. … Novak in a video interview with the St. Cloud Times about trying to slow CC brothers Jaden and Rylan Schwartz: “A lot of things that happen on the ice are going to be because of what they do. So it’s going to be important for us to get on them quick and just play them tight and make sure that we can’t let them wheel around.”

CC vs. St. Cloud State predictions: U.S. College Hockey Online columnist Tyler Buckentine predicts a sweep for the Tigers, based on the fact that CC has more depth at forward, while USCHO columnist Brian Halverson forecasts a split, leaning on an 11-12-2 all-time record for St. Cloud State at World Arena. … The College Hockey HighHorse blogger Andrew Craig predicts a split, noting that “both teams have been inconsistent.”

Negative impact of Air Force’s win over CC: Air Force coach Frank Serratore had a colorful opening Thursday to his weekly news conference. “Boy, are we bad right now,” said Serratore, whose team has gone winless since a 2-1 victory Dec. 30 at World Arena. “I’ve got tickets right here – free tickets. I wouldn’t pay right now to see us play, the way we’re playing. … Maybe it had something to do with beating Colorado College, beating the fifth-ranked team, and maybe we start to think that we’re something we’re not.”

Not very intelligent: A post Tuesday on a St. Cloud State message board reads, “CC should be a cakewalk.” Perhaps the only thing less logical that I came across recently was a Wednesday podcast by Inside College Hockey that featured a discussion about the height of the World Arena press box. “I can’t watch television games from Colorado College,” one person said. The host questioned, “Because they’re not on TV?” The person replied, “That press box, it’s like they’re shooting from the international space station.” Then a third person chimed in: “They use the sky cam I think exclusively there.”

He said it: Denver coach George Gwozdecky to The Denver Post on Jaden Schwartz playing such a big role at world juniors: “To be able to have Jaden as captain of Team Canada says an awful lot about not only the respect he has in Canada, but the level of respect for where he’s playing. You almost have to force your way onto that team if you’re playing U.S. college hockey. You’re almost looked upon as a traitor. It’s like, ‘You are a traitor, but if you’re a really, really, really good traitor, we’ll waive that.’”

Photo of the week: Thanks to Gazette photographer Christian Murdock for this overhead shot of Owens addressing his team during a timeout Saturday at World Arena before Jaden Schwartz scored the game-tying goal with 29 seconds left in the third period against No. 9 Cornell. Maybe it’s merely my perspective, but it looks as if Owens’ bald spot has grown significantly larger, at least since I last covered CC in the 2005-06 season.

A video worth watching: Kudos to college hockey guru Joe Paisley for finding a YouTube clip of former CC defenseman Mark Stuart, now with the Winnipeg Jets, getting pummeled Tuesday in a fight against Boston Bruins enforcer Shawn Thornton.

Crunching the numbers: The Tigers are tied for ninth in the PairWise rankings, and they’re 15th in the RPI; 18th in the KRACH and the MWP; and 21st in the CHODR. They moved up a spot to seventh in the Inside College Hockey power rankings, and in WCHA power rankings, they’re third by the Minnesota blog Pride on Ice; fifth by the Omaha World-Herald; sixth by Eric Burton of Inside Hockey and by the North Dakota blog Goon’s World; and seventh by Minnesota-Duluth blogger Zack Friedli.

Two reminders: Like last weekend, I’ll be providing live updates during both CC games against St. Cloud State using the Cover It Live application. Simply visit the Eye of the Tigers blog about five minutes before faceoff, click on the link and the chat forum will launch. Feel free to chime in with comments or questions during the games, and make sure to pay attention to the scoreboard on the bottom of the tool, which I update at every stoppage of play with the time, the shot totals and special teams alerts. Also, if you haven’t done so already, visit the Gazette Sports Facebook page to register to win a pair of tickets to CC’s regular-season finale March 3 against Michigan Tech at World Arena.

In case you missed it: I covered both of CC’s games last weekend – a 3-1 loss that was followed by a 3-3 tie. And I wrote sidebars about the Tigers allowing too many short-handed goals and about plans to keep the Broadmoor Trophy, awarded to the WCHA Final Five champion, in the WCHA after CC leaves for the Colorado Springs-based National Collegiate Hockey Conference in the 2013-14 season. I also put together videos on the loss and the tie. I posted a weekend wrap-up, combining tidbits from Air Force’s tie and loss at Holy Cross, then I had a blog about CC moving to eighth in both national polls; a photo gallery of Tigers fans; a blog about a TV contract for the NCHC coming in the next three weeks; a story about Jaden Schwartz returning to full strength after world juniors; a blog about three CC players and two Air Force players being nominated for the Hobey Baker Award; and a preview of the series against St. Cloud State. On the Air Force front, I did a story about defenseman Tim Kirby’s offensive outburst and a preview of the series against Bentley at Cadet Ice Arena.

Closing notes: CC recruit Jaccob Slavin, with the Chicago Steel of the U.S. Hockey League, will play in the USHL/NHL Top Prospects Game on Jan. 24 in Muskegon, Mich. Tigers recruit Michael King was traded Tuesday from the Westside Warriors of the British Columbia Hockey League to the Lloydminster Bobcats of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. … Minnesota high school junior right wing Grant Besse has verbally committed to Wisconsin after visiting CC, as well as Bemidji State and St. Cloud State. And Minnesota high school senior center Judd Peterson has verbally committed to St. Cloud State after drawing interest from CC, in addition to Michigan State, Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota State-Mankato and Ohio State. … One of Schwartz’s game-used jerseys from world juniors sold for $1,941 following 35 bids on eBay. … The next three CC games after this weekend will be televised – Jan. 20 at No. 5 Minnesota on ROOT Sports, Jan. 21 at Minnesota on FSN North and Feb. 3 at No. 16 Denver on ROOT Sports. … CC athletic director Ken Ralph will make the trip to Minnesota for a pair of alumni and parent tailgate events. … The next radio show for Owens is at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 1 at McCabe’s Tavern at 520 S. Tejon St. You can also listen on 103.9 FM RXP.

Contact Brian Gomez: 719-636-0256 or brian.gomez@gazette.com. Facebook: Brian Gomez. Twitter: @gazettehockey. Google+: Brian Gomez. YouTube: Colorado College Hockey, Covered by The Gazette. For the CC hockey homepage, visit www.gazette.com/sections/sports/cchockey. For the CC hockey blog, visit http://cchockey.freedomblogging.com.

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