Portland, ME – The Portland Pirates find themselves a little thin on the blueline this morning as defenseman Mike Weber was recalled by the Buffalo Sabres late yesterday.

Weber, 21, has played in 19 games for the Pirates this season, scoring two points (2a) and plus/minus rating of plus-5 with 51 penalty minutes.

This is his second recall of the season to Buffalo, as he played two games with the Sabres earlier this season.

His recall comes at a time when both the Pirates and Sabres are dealing with a significant amount of injuries. In the Pirates case, Weber going to Buffalo leaves Portland with only five healthy defenseman as Mike Card is still unavailable for action with an upper body (above the neck) injury.

Buffalo has been just as unlucky losing both Craig Rivet and Toni Lydman to injury in recent days as well as Patrick Kaleta to a head and neck injury and Tim Connolly who suffered a broken rib and has missed the last eight games.

Weber’s stay may only be a short one, which is a good thing for the Pirates due to their injury woes as they will begin a three-in-three on Friday in Springfield, Mass. against the Falcons.

UPDATE:

Weber will not play tonight in Florida as Toni Lydman will in the lineup after taking part in morning practice with the Sabres. Craig Rivet also took part in practice, but Lindy Ruff wants to give him a little more time to heal from an upper body injury, so depending on how tonight’s game plays out Weber could be back in time for the Pirates game tomorrow against Springfield.