Star forward Dumais suffers setback

Just when Jordan Dumais was seeing light at the end of the tunnel, another setback stopped him in his tracks.

The Halifax Mooseheads announced on Saturday their star player is hurt again and it doesn't sound like he'll be back on the ice any time soon. Dumais had just completed rehab from sports hernia surgery and was due to make his longawaited return to the lineup on Saturday but he's now out indefinitely.

"Jordan's original surgery had healed and he'd been practising with us and working out but then this week he felt a pain in his groin," Mooseheads general manager Cam Russell said. "We got an MRI on Thursday and basically it's a (double abdominal tear).

"We don't know how serious it is right now but he's obviously not going to play or skate for a while."

Russell said the team will get follow-up medical advice after the Easter weekend but the initial news doesn't paint an especially optimistic picture.

Dumais hasn't played in a game for the Mooseheads since Dec. 8 because he first spent several weeks with Team Canada at the world junior championship and then his initial injury led to surgery on Jan 18. He also just finished a fivegame suspension after being charged with driving under the influence so it's been a difficult stretch all around for the 19-year-old winger.

"It's been a really tough time for him," Russell said. "He was doing everything he could to get back playing for us and, unfortunately, this is another hurdle in front of him."

It also goes without saying the announcement hit the team hard. Dumais was the QMJHL scoring champion and most valuable player last year and was producing at an even higher rate this season with 47 points in 21 games.

The Mooseheads trail the Bathurst Titan 2-0 in their firstround best-of-seven playoff series and his return would've been a tremendous lift.

"He's a game-changer and a difference-maker so it's tough on everyone to lose your best player," Russell said. "And this all happened so quickly. Like I said, everything was on track until Thursday and then everything changed.

"And we released it when we did because we didn't want to give Bathurst the heads-up. It's not like we want to help them out. ... But this is another injury for him and this has been really hard on him and hard on the team."