"I was so scared that I wouldn't be able to walk again. Hockey was the farthest thing from my mind at the time, when [Harvard Coach] Ronn [Tomassoni] and Teddy Donato and Scott Barringer carried me up to UHS. For 20 days, I needed valium and was lying here in pain. After 20 days, I was in pain but functional. We finally made the decision for surgery the night of the first Beanpot game."

That was February 4. But while surgery was set for February 15, the doctors told Weisbrod that there was only an 80 percent chance that he could undergo the percanterous disectomy, which is an arthroscopic surgery that uses a needle to drain the disc's excess fluid. Because the operation does not physically alter the back, there is usually a recovery period of only a week.

Fortunately for Weisbrod, the surgeons were able to do the operation, which they said went "extremely well."

But, because "it took a little more digging than usual," according to Weisbrod, to reach the disk sandwiched between the sacrum and vertebrae, the aggravated tissue from the surgery extended Weisbrod's recovery period to more than three weeks.

The injury has also added to his academic pressures. Because Weisbrod had to take the valium provided for his back, he could not take three first-term finals. He has studied afternoons over the past few weeks to prepare for next week's make-up examinations.

The delayed recovery rendered Weisbrod--who had hoped to return for the Clarkson/St. Lawrence weekend February 22 and 23--unable to return for his senior class's final games in Bright Center. He is also out for this weekend's ECAC semifinal and final games, but says that there is a "90-percent chance" he will play in the next round of the NCAA's next weekend, if Harvard can go that far.

"It didn't hit me until I realized that [Rensselaer] would be my last chance to play at Bright Center," Weisbrod said. "So I called [Assistant Coach] Lane [MacDonald] and said that I didn't want to listen to the game on the radio. I lay on the floor and watched the game from the feed they run to tape the game. In the last five minutes, I stood on the penalty bench and watched. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss skating at Bright again, because of all of the memories."

And there are many of those. Like the time that Harvard beat Lake Superior State to move into the NCAA semifinal round in 1988-89. Like the time earlier that season when Donato scored in sudden-death to beat Boston College in overtime, "the first time I knew we could do it," according to Weisbrod. Like the previous season, when Weisbrod was a freshman and Harvard played the 1988 U.S. Olympic Team.

"We lost 15-3, but it was a real thrill," he said. "I thought to myself, 'I'm here. I'm playing Division I hockey.' I felt like this was it."

Weisbrod said he definitely wants to continue playing hockey after the conclusion of this season, either for Minnesota or San Jose, an NHL expansion franchise. While Minnesota selected him in the fourth round of the 1987 draft (73rd pick overall), Weisbrod said he may be selected in the dispersal draft as one of 14 players that the Sharks can sign from other teams.

"San Jose has to actively pick me," he said, "so it would show there's enough serious interest. There could be the chance they're writing me off."

Above all, Weisbrod is a realist. Because he has been injured, he said he realizes "I'm losing my bargaining position." He did not have the 50-point year he had hoped to have, and must now prove himself once again to scouts in training camp this coming August.

He said that after his pro career is over, he would like either to go into sports journalism or teach and coach high school hockey.

But, for now, Weisbrod is focused on getting in shape for his pro tryouts.

"What will stick in my mind when this is all over is that this whole venture is a struggle against getting discouraged," Weisbrod said. "I know it sounds sappy, but otherwise I'd end up in depression."

"I'm not bitter or spiteful," he continued. "I don't ask 'Why does this happen to me?' I find encouragement with the fact that I'm getting my problems over with now, not when my pro career starts.