Surgery to sideline Lynch for season

Spokane Chiefs’ defenseman Scott Lynch will have surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder and is expected to miss the remainder of the season. Lynch has not played since suffering the injury on November 30th at Prince Albert.

“Obviously, this is a huge blow to our team with the amount of ice time that Scott logs and the dimension that he provides,” Chiefs’ general manager Tim Speltz said.

The 20-year-old is the top scoring defenseman on the Chiefs with four goals and 15 points in 25 games. Lynch set career highs last season with 17 goals and 40 points in 71 games. In his five year career, the Coquitlam, British Columbia, native has played 277 games and scored 25 goals and 79 points. Lynch has 421 penalty minutes.

Lynch is expected to have surgery before Christmas, with rehab starting six weeks following. Typically, full recovery for the injury is six to nine months .