PORTLAND — When Matt Libby was finally cleared to return to the Portland Pirates lineup, the defenseman thought he had over a week to mentally and physically prepare himself.

That preparation time was cut short, though. Just prior to Portland’s last home game, the infamous penalty-filled game with Providence, Libby was told to suit up.

“I wasn’t expecting to play, but one of our guys got hurt in warmups,” said Libby. “So I jumped on the ice and away I went.”

It wasn’t exactly how the Saco native envisioned his return. The former Thornton Academy and Providence College star had been out since a Dec. 26 game with Saint John. He took a viscious Darcy Verot elbow to the head in that game, was knocked out and carried off the ice on a stretcher. Recovery from the concussion has been slow.

“It was an extremely frustrating process,” said Libby, who had a concussion in college and one last season. “It was probably the most frustrating part of my professional career. I did my best to stay positive and keep working out. Now I think I’m finally over the hump.”

Libby’s concussion was a Grade III, the most severe. It took weeks before he could do anything remotely active. When it seemed like he was close to being able to work out, he’d get headaches. Each time he seemed closer to getting back on skates, another setback prolonged things.

It wasn’t until mid-February that the symptoms finally disappeared. He was eventually cleared to play two days before the Providence game.

“I started to feel good,” said Libby. “Ever since then, I started to progress and feel good.”

Now it is a matter of getting back into game shape. The sudden return to active duty may have been a challenge physically, but it took the added week of worry off his mind in an instant.

“It was a bit of a surprise,” said Libby. “I was glad to get back out there. It was almost a good thing, because it didn’t give me any time to think about it or get nervous about getting back out there. They just threw me into the fire real quick. Obviously, I’m trying to work on getting rid of the cobwebs and get my timing back.”

Being thrown into the fire was an appropriate reference to the Providence game, in which the two teams combined for 150 penalty minutes in the final period. Libby wasn’t expecting to be part of a game that boiled over to that extent. Coach Tim Army used him sparingly and helped reintroduce him to the lineup gradually.

“I felt good,” said Libby. “I just needed to get a couple of shifts to get my legs. I wanted to get a hit in and kind of get the feel of the game. Coach did a pretty good job working me in. He said before the game that he didn’t want to give me too much ice time.”

With Libby and Nate Forster out with concussions, the Pirates defensive corps has been a bit shorthanded at times.

Mike Farrell has been moved back to the blue line at times this season to help out. Getting a healthy Libby back should help bolster the defense and provide a fresh body to the lineup. “I definitely have a lot of energy and a lot of passion to get back out there with the guys and help them anyway that I can,” said Libby.

The final 10

After their trip to Manitoba this weekend, the Pirates have 10 games left in the regular season. The Pirates playoff positioning may be determined by what happens in the next few weeks. After dropping to sixth overall in the conference, the Pirates are just one slot ahead of teams (No. 7 through 10) that have to play a best-of-three qualifying series. All three games are played at the rink of the higher-seeded team.

Clear day roster

The Pirates clear day roster was announced last week. Only players listed on the team’s clear day roster are permitted to compete in the Calder Cup playoffs, unless emergency conditions arise. The roster includes Maxime Ouellet, Rastislav Stana, Mel Angelstad, Josef Boumedienne, Jakub Cutta, Mike Farrell, Chris Ferraro, Peter Ferraro, Colin Forbes, Chris Hajt, Matt Libby, Glen Metropolit, Graham Mink, Mark Murphy, Brad Parsons, Stephen Peat, Matt Pettinger, Todd Rohloff, Andreas Salomonsson, Trent Whitfield, Nolan Yonkman and Dwayne Zinger.

kmills@sunjournal.com