Columbus goalie prospect Steve Mason has knee surgery, will miss Memorial Cup

Steve Mason won't have a chance to add a Memorial Cup to his resume this season. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

BY JIM CRESSMAN

Nineteen-year-old Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Steve Mason, currently a goaltender with the Ontario League's Kitchener Rangers, will be on the shelf for four to six weeks after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery to repair a minor tear April 18.

The injury means Mason will miss the Memorial Cup, which takes place May 16-25 in Kitchener.

Rookie Josh Unice, a Chicago Blackhawks prospect who won 30 games this season, has taken over from Mason, who was acquired by the Rangers from the London Knights on Jan. 3.

Mason backstopped Canada to the world junior championship earlier this year. He missed one game during the conference quarter-finals against Plymouth, then limped off the ice after his knee buckled during Game 3 of the semifinals against Sarnia on April 8, three nights after the two teams went three overtimes in a game that lasted five hours.

The Rangers had said for 10 days he had the flu.