In the short few months of the 2015-2016 boys hockey season, the team has endured a bad case of the injury bug.

During November tryouts, Brad VanTatenhove, senior, broke his back. Out for the first few weeks of the season, VanTatenhove made his return to the ice Jan. 2 against the Bloomington Kennedy Eagles.

Unfortunately, as the team gained a player, they lost another.

During the match against the Eagles, Jake Wahl, senior, was skating along the ice before getting checked into an opening side door by one of the Eagles. Wahl endured a broken pelvis, but hopes to return for the end of the season after a recovery of four to six weeks.

In their last game before Christmas, Nik Solberg, senior, was checked into the boards at 22:00 minutes against Benilde-St. Margaret’s.

“I was hit into the boards by a Benilde Player and felt shoulder and rib pain,” Solberg said. “I thought it was a rib injury and went to the doctor after the game to find out that I had lacerated my spleen.”

Solberg completed the game before visiting the doctor. Solberg will have a recovery time for an estimated three weeks.

Junior, Johnny Meland, broke his femur and is also out for six weeks.

The Royals face St. Louis Park tonight at seven o’clock at the Pavilion. They hope that their win streak of two games against St. Francis on Dec. 30th and Bloomington Kennedy on Jan. 2nd will help them overcome the injuries and gain some momentum for the end of the season.