Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ND Sports Injuries Give Junior Walk-On Joe Aiken His Shot By Dan Murphy A year ago, Joe Aiken was hauling his equipment to and from the rink on a daily basis. He was taking crowded car trips to hockey arenas well past their prime and spending weekend nights in motel rooms that looked much the same. The Irish junior was the leading scorer on Notre Dame's club hockey team, fighting for a chance to fulfill his lifetime goal to play college hockey. In September, after three years of tryouts, Aiken earned a rare spot on Notre Dame's roster as a walk-on forward. He's still getting used to the perks of being a part of one of the country's best hockey programs. "It's been pretty eye-opening actually," he said. "All the free meals and the hotels, all the free equipment is a big thing, I still kind of pinch myself when I walk into the locker room and see my name plaque there." Aiken's dream come true got a little dreamier in late November when a shortage of healthy bodies propelled the former Milwaukee high school standout from a reserve practice player to a spot in the lineup. Notre Dame lost three of its top offensive threats — including leading scorer Vinnie Hinostroza — and five players total for several weeks due to a rash of ill-timed injuries. Irish head coach Jeff Jackson didn't expect to use Aiken in games this season. He kept the junior to fill out his fifth line of forwards in practice (college teams generally dress four lines for games) and in case of an emergency. The emergency arrived when two of Notre Dame's centers, sophomores Steven Fogarty and Thomas DiPauli, left Notre Dame's first home Hockey East game — a 4-1 victory over Merrimack — with injuries. Jackson put Aiken on the fourth line along with true freshman Ali Thomas and defenseman-turned-makeshift-winger Ben Ostlie. "We are at the bare bones right now. We're traveling with everybody that's healthy," Jackson said. "We're going to have to see if Joey Aiken can handle the pace. That's the biggest question." Aiken's father played goalie for Harvard in college, and his grandfather played for Boston University. The youngest Aiken first tried to steal a spot on the Irish roster as an undersized, over-his-head freshman. He spent the rest of that year in the weight room trying to catch up to other college athletes in strength while playing for his dorm's interhall hockey team. He skated with the Irish during the next two summers and says he finally felt confident he could keep up during preseason training this year. Aiken fell in with his new teammates, no easy feat for a group with 10 seniors that have played together for