NCAA notebook: Alaska, injuries, and awards

The news of the week in college hockey is not the kind of thing anyone wants to deal with.

Injuries. Long-term ones. To major players. For several teams with big-time aspirations.

That's hockey, yada yada yada, but man. It hurts the product, these teams, and in a lot of cases, even these prospects' abilities to play international tournaments in the next couple of months.

Take, for example, Michigan defenseman Henry Mews. He's been off to as much of a ripping start as the Wolverines as a whole, but got hit knee-to-knee on Saturday night against Notre Dame and is now done for the year. Bad news for the Flames pick and his NCAA team, of course, but also the Canadian World Junior team. Mews has nine assists in 10 games and would likely have featured heavily on the Canadian power play and, of cour