{"id":31202,"date":"2010-03-21T09:58:20","date_gmt":"2010-03-21T14:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/03\/21\/when-tallent-is-good-enough\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:57:56","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:57:56","slug":"when-tallent-is-good-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2010\/03\/21\/when-tallent-is-good-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"When Tallent Is Good Enough"},"content":{"rendered":"
For senior defenseman Eric Tallent, this weekend was to be the culmination of a terrific four year career playing for Norwich in the Frozen Four with the goal of hoisting the national championship trophy on Saturday after one more win against St. Norbert. <\/p>\n
The outcome of the game has yet to be decided but the role of the All-American defender from Garland, Texas has been determined by a lingering injury that has him sitting out his final collegiate game, unable to skate. <\/p>\n
Tallent sustained a foot injury during the ECAC East championship game against Babson back on March 6. While not believed to be terribly serious at the time, Tallent found that he could walk without great difficulty but could not skate with the foot problem. Following a week of treatment and no skating, the senior was unable to suit up in the NCAA quarterfinal round against Elmira but was clearly focused on being able to play in Lake Placid. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to force anything,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said head coach Mike McShane. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He just couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t put any pressure on the foot inside the skate so we wanted to have him get some treatment and rest and see if he could come back after the Elmira game.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
The week leading up to Lake Placid wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t much different as treatment continued and Tallent was limited to just one full practice on Thursday which had the Norwich camp optimistic that one of their defensive stalwarts and special team leaders would be on the ice to face Plattsburgh on Friday night. Based on the practice things looked good and when No. 44 skated out for the warm-up, the <\/p>\n
Norwich faithful were excited and relieved by his return to the line-up.
\nPaired with his usual partner, captain Tyler Stitt, Tallent did not skip a beat and logged significant ice time on his regular shift as well as power play and penalty kill duty. Adrenaline from the excitement of playing in the Frozen Four probably helped to mask any discomfort during the game which the Cadets won by a 3-2 score. However, as the game wore on, Tallent was looking to treat the foot between periods. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He said he could ice it between periods,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d noted McShane. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it was a good idea to take the boot off between periods since we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if he would be able to get it back on to keep playing. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a real tough kid and he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to miss being out there with his teammates.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n