Feb. 18—GRAND FORKS — Josh Zakreski went down with a leg injury on the final drill of practice Oct. 30.
He had surgery the next week.
Zakreski has gradually progressed since then, walking with no support after Christmas, skating in January and re-joining practices in February.
This weekend, it's possible he could make his long-awaited return to the lineup.
UND's speedy, tenacious winger skated in warmups last Saturday and may be available when the Fighting Hawks host St. Cloud State at 7:07 p.m. Friday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Zakreski has not played since Oct. 24 at Clarkson.
UND coach Dane Jackson said there are two big steps when returning from a longterm injury. The first step is being confident the injury has healed.
"You've got to be comfortable knowing your injury is going to hold up," he said. "You always have a little bit of nervousness that the same area you hurt is going to get hurt again. Once you have some contact, which does help in practice once you have contact on it and start battling with guys, you understand that it's back and fully healthy."
The second part is getting timing back.
"I think that just takes a little bit of time to get back to your game speed and feeling good to be able to make plays at high speed," Jackson said.
Zakreski, a 6-foot freshman from Saskatoon, Sask., is a versatile winger who can play up and down the lineup. In his six games, he played on both the first and fourth lines, while tallying a goal and three points.
He also served as a penalty killer.
"His conditioning looks really good," Jackson said. "He's worked extremely hard. He was doing a lot of extra power skating, extra bike rides, extra skating with our assistant coaches. So, his fitness looks good. I've seen a bit of rust, but Josh has a lot of solid, two-way game to him. He elevated in our lineup because of his good hockey sense. He plays hard. I think all of those good things he does in his game — even if he's not making high-level plays or shooting pucks in the net — he's going to still be a strong, solid player for us."
With UND regaining health up front, the coaching staff will be left with difficult lineup decisions.
"Very tough," Jackson said. "A lot of guys have built goodwill with their teammates and coaches. It's not easy. We're going to have good players sitting out. It has driven good competition in practice. We've talked to some of those guys and said, 'Hey, it doesn't mean you're not going to be in.' We're always led by the thing of what we think is best for the program. We'll make decisions as we see fit and obviously talk to the guys and tell them, 'Hey, you're a valuable piece. We're going to need you down the stretch to win these tough games.'"
Jackson shook up UND's lines in the third period Saturday, looking for a rally against Miami. It worked as the Fighting Hawks came back from a two-goal, third-period deficit to win 4-3 in overtime.
Jackson indicated there could be more line shuffling this week.
Although UND's five-on-five analytics have been strong — both in terms of shots on goal and expected goals — the Fighting Hawks have only managed four even-strength goals in the last four games.
"Obviously, when you're winning, you don't feel the need to switch too much," Jackson said. "We always look at our two-way game. If we feel like we're driving possession and doing the right things, that's our biggest guideline. But I think you'll see a few changes this week as we go forward and try some different stuff. We always know we can go back to some of those lines."