Article by Felicity Harding. Photo by Sam Roering.
What started out as an incredible sophomore season turned into a nightmare for Huskies’ goaltender Isak Posch after an off-ice incident led to him missing almost three months due to an upper body injury.
With Posch out for a while, graduate goaltender Gavin Enright and red shirt sophomore goaltender James Gray were able to get some ice time, taking over in net for Posch.
“I’m really happy for [Enright and Gray]. Of course, you’re always going to earn the net and with my injury, it opened up spots for the guys that actually deserved it too. [They are] right there always putting in the hard work every single day of practice and it’s always hard when you have another guy in front of you that’s playing what you want to do,” Posch said regarding his goalie teammates earning in game opportunities.
While Posch missed quite a bit of time and was happy to see his goalie teammates get in-game ice time, Posch is very happy to be back on the ice.
“It’s always tough to watch from the stands when you can’t do so much. But always being around the guys, I always had a desire to improve and always work hard,” said Posch.
Last season, Posch was stellar for the Huskies and had an incredible season, earning a spot on the 2023-24 All-NCHC Rookie Team and earning NCHC Rookie of the Week in February. Before his injury this season, Posch was having an even better start as he was one of the top goaltenders in NCAA DI hockey. When Posch got injured, he was No. 8 in the nation in save percentage and No. 11 in goals against average.
While Posch has returned to a struggling Huskies team, he is still No. 10 in the nation in save percentage and No. 15 in goals against average.
Posch made his full return this past weekend playing in his first full 60-minute game against Colorado College, the team he played against in his last game before his injury.
“I thought he looked really sharp. I thought that [Friday night] was a really good game to get him back in the playing mode again,” said Huskies head coach Brett Larson.
While Posch had a great return on Friday night, he had an even better performance on Saturday night, impressing the team even more.
“I think he’s [Posch] right back to where he was before he got hurt. I know it was killing him to be on the sidelines watching the last month and a half, but he really came out and showed why he’s the goalie that he is [Saturday night],” sophomore forward Barrett Hall said, “It’s very easy to play when you’ve got [Posch] as your backstop and you can trust that if he’s seeing it, he’s saving it. He played unreal.”
Posch helped the Huskies break their 13-game conference losing streak, putting up a 42 save performance against the Tigers on Saturday.
As the Huskies hit the road this weekend, Posch will be looking to continue his hot return against a great team against the Denver Pioneers.
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