Men’s hockey sophomore defenseman Brendan Smith has recorded 18 points in 21 games, forms half of the top pairing for the team’s defensemen and was taken 27th overall in the NHL draft.

Any way you slice it, losing a player of Smith’s caliber is going to have a detrimental effect on the team.

Unfortunately for the University of Wisconsin, the Badgers have gone through this for two years in a row.

“Obviously with a guy like him in the lineup as a team we are a lot better,” assistant captain Jamie McBain said. “Because of the skills he brings to the ice, we are looking forward to getting him back, especially when he completely gets back to where he was before his wrist.”

The wrist McBain refers to was injured during a 5-6 loss to Northern Michigan. Smith — who had recorded two goals in the first period — says he only felt a little pain as he fell to the ice.

“At first, I just thought it was a sprain,” Smith said. “It hurt a little bit, but what sucked is I was on the ice and was watching the other guy score. I went back to the bench, and I told them it was sore, but we taped it up, and I just kept playing.”

Although Smith managed to finish the second frame, he learned in the locker room the injury was a little more severe than he originally thought.

“At the end of the period, I had a conference, and when they asked me if I was going to be back, I told them, ‘Yeah, sure, I’ll be back,'” Smith said. “But we checked it out and it was broken, so I guess I was a little bit off for when I was coming back.”

The sophomore from Mimico, Ontario, has already had some experience with injury, missing more than half of his freshman year to a lower back injury. According to Smith, however, this time around it is different.

“Last year’s was a real tough one,” Smith said. “I missed like the whole season, and I couldn’t really do anything because it was a lower back. Just going through first hand and seeing how hard it was, this year I am more part of the team.”

While injuries are nearly inevitable when playing a contact sport like hockey, Smith had little experience dealing with recovery before he came to UW.

“I have had injuries before, but nothing major like I did last year,” Smith said. “Last year’s was just a huge one when I missed half the season … but there is still a lot of season left, and its not senior year or anything, which is great.”

At practice, Smith can be seen skating around in a green jersey, collecting pucks and offering instruction to his teammates. According to him, staying in hockey shape is his primary goal right now.

“I can do a lot of things,” Smith said. “I am kind of like a coach, I can move the pucks, I can stick handle a little bit, but mostly I just skate a lot and try to stay in shape.”

“He is doing more and more with two hands,” head coach Mike Eaves added. “The one thing about Brendan that he realizes is he will skate on his own — he will do everything he can on his own to make sure that his time away is closer to being game-like.”

Despite missing the sophomore blue-liner for the last four games, Wisconsin has held their own, winning three of their four competitions. With different players contributing, the Badgers may be better prepared in the long run.

“You have got to have people who can step up and fill the holes,” McBain said. “Obviously Jake [Gardiner] has done a good job so far filling his spot, and a couple other freshmen too … with Little and Springer being able to get in the lineup on a regular night, instead of rotating three, so that is going to be huge for us going down the stretch.”

In Smith’s absence, freshman Jake Gardiner has been playing along McBain as the top defensive pair. With Smith starting on the power play, Gardiner has seen his minutes with a man-advantage increase as well.

“That is the silver lining of any negative situation,” Eaves said. “Certainly, Jake Gardiner has been the direct recipient, getting some experience on the power play, five on three, and situations that perhaps we wouldn’t have given to him had Brendan been healthy.”

While Smith’s injury shouldn’t present any physical limitations once fully healed, he may find the chemistry he and McBain had formed harder to recover. Before he went down, Smith and McBain formed one of the most dangerous pairs on the power play in the WCHA.

“I’m not worried about it, but it might take a few late practices to work on,” Smith said of the chemistry he and McBain had developed. “We were clicking pretty good at the end there, so we will work on it and hopefully find it again soon.”

While the team certainly misses Smith on the ice, Smith probably wants to get back more than anyone.

“The whole game is like that,” Smith said of feeling frustration while watching his teammates. “Its like very time on the power play, when we can’t score and were not even getting set up, its like, ‘Oh, that sucks. I wish I was out there to help out.’ The whole game can be such a pain to watch.”