Redshirt freshman makes long road back to become contributor

Nick Larson's Gophers hockey career is just beginning after a back injury late in his senior year at Hill-Murray.

By ROMAN AUGUSTOVIZ, Star Tribune

Last update: November 28, 2008 - 7:07 AM

After an 11 a.m. practice Thanksgiving Day, the 27 players on the Gophers men's hockey team were free to scatter. Redshirt freshman Nick Larson went to his Aunt Jane's house for a family dinner.

Close to 30 people -- aunts, uncles, cousins -- were expected.

"Nick is the oldest of the cousins," said Nick's father, Dan. "They all idolize him. There's 16 of them and seven or eight are hockey players."

So is Nick again after taking last season off because of two cracked vertebrae.

"[Nick] is going to play this weekend," Gophers coach Don Lucia said. "We really like what he is doing. He has improved as much as anybody since the start of the year."

Minnesota faces Michigan tonight and Michigan State on Saturday night in nonconference games at Mariucci Arena. Both are part of the annual College Hockey Showcase.

Larson, a 6-1, 165-pound forward, has played in two games so far, on Nov. 8 vs. New Hampshire and Nov. 16 vs. Michigan Tech.

His college debut came 20 months after he was injured in Hill-Murray's first game in the Class 2A tournament in March 2007.

"It was either the second or first period, and I got hit awkwardly from the side in the slot," said Larson, who turns 20 in January. "The pain shot up my back. I thought it must be a broken rib. I played with it and couldn't breathe all that well."

Hill-Murray lost 6-5 to Rochester Century in overtime. "I couldn't play in the next game," Larson said.

For the next two months, he lived with pain while doctors ran MRIs, lots of them. He also tried physical therapy. Shots, too.

A spine specialist finally pinpointed the problem: The L4 and L5 vertebrae in his lower back were cracked. Larson wore a fiberglass back brace, from his pelvis almost to his armpits, during the summer of 2007.

"You could hardly move anything," Larson said. "It was terrible. Really hot and uncomfortable."

But the brace worked -- eventually.

Larson, whom the Gophers signed before the start of his senior season, enrolled at the University of Minnesota for the fall of 2007. His back was still bothering him, though.

Should he risk hurting himself more by playing? The Gophers coaches advised him to take time off.

So Larson became a typical freshman, except his roommate was Gophers forward Drew Fisher, another first-year student. Larson went to a few games but watched most on TV.

"I had a soft side for them; I felt bad," said Larson, referring to a team which finished seventh in the WCHA. "But I thought hopefully, if I got better, I could help them [this] season."

By last spring, the back had improved. Larson asked Lucia if he could join the team.

He started skating gingerly in early April and worked out harder over the summer. He is still limited a bit: no squats in the weight room.

"I am not quite back to where I was," said Larson, a 31-goal scorer as senior, "and I want to be better than where I was."

So he is trying to improve his speed. "Just the pace of the game is unbelievable," Larson said, "going from high school, to taking a year off, to college hockey."

Larson plays only occasionally as the Gophers' 13th forward but savors everything. "It's a blast," he said, "not only the hockey part, but just the guys and being part of a team."

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