The chill of the icy air whips against his face, the breath of the cold mist fills his lungs and the freshly Zambonied ice is underneath his feet.

Then, BAM! He legally checks someone into the boards, but something doesn’t feel right. The blade of his opponent’s skate comes up and cuts his left leg all the way up to his knee.  The blood from his leg pours onto the ice quickly, painting the surface a deep red.

“He always gets up,” Siefert’s mother Jean said. “It was the first time he never got up.”

Like his mother, Siefert said he thought everything would be fine.

“I thought I would just get stitched up and be able to get back out there and play,” Siefert said. “I found out that it was much more serious than that.”

Because of the accident, the peroneal nerve in Siefert’s leg was severed, which caused Siefert to suffer from a condition known as drop foot, or medically termed dorsiflexion. Drop foot basically means that Siefert could not lift his left foot.

Now, four years later, the junior is sprinting across Upper Terrace Field in a closely contested battle against arch-rival SUNY-Cortland on Saturday carrying a lacrosse stick. He said he feels almost no pain in his leg as he passes by his opponent. At 5 feet 7 inches tall and only 150 pounds, he may be a little smaller than the rest, but that doesn’t stop him from leading his team in a strong second-half charge.

As an attack, Siefert has helped the Bombers to one of the best starts in team history. At 8-0 overall, the team has achieved its highest national ranking ever at No. 3. His game-opening goal in Ithaca’s 9–8 overtime win against rival SUNY-Cortland on Saturday showed how big a factor he has become. Siefert has recorded 16 goals and five assists for the team this season, easily surpassing his previous career totals.

But when Siefert was lying on the ice, none of this had seemed possible.

After seeing a doctor, Siefert did not know what his diagnosis meant for his future. The doctor speculated that Siefert would never walk the same again and ruled out playing any sports in the process. For someone who loved every aspect of playing sports, Siefert was heartbroken.

“Sports are my life,” he said. “I was really depressed when the doctor told me that. At that point, I didn’t think that I would be able to play college lacrosse.”

With that news, Siefert sought out a second opinion. This time he was sent to a sports doctor in Boston, one who had dealt with sports-related injuries before. His diagnosis was completely different from the first doctor’s: He gave Siefert the chance to not only walk, but to play sports as well.

After the more optimistic diagnosis, Siefert waited for two weeks to get his cast off and one week to get rid of his crutches. After three painfully long weeks, he finally went to work with rehabilitation and physical therapy. During his rehabilitation, Siefert strengthened his leg by frequent stretching and biking.

People with drop foot wear a special ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) brace on the leg. The brace picks up the foot for the person when they are walking or running. Wearing one of these bulky braces, Siefert still managed to play lacrosse at full speed only three months after the gruesome hockey injury.

“Throughout the process, I was always positive,” Jean Siefert said about her son’s comeback attempt. “I never thought it would actually happen, though.”

While Siefert said he was hindered a bit by the injury, he certainly didn’t show it. He captained the lacrosse team at Duxbury High School in Duxbury, Mass., as they won their second consecutive state title during his senior year. During the course of that season, less than six months removed from his accident, Siefert tallied 103 goals and 23 assists en route to being named an All-American.

After that, he was on his way to the college to play at a level he never dreamed he would after the accident.

“I never noticed [his injury] when he played,” Ithaca Head Coach Jeff Long said. “It’s been really rewarding to see him out there.”

Yet the foot still caused problems for Siefert during his first two seasons, this time through ankle injuries, which impacted how he played during his freshman and sophomore years.

This past summer, a special surgery almost completely healed Siefert’s leg. The procedure moved a piece of muscle from his right leg to his left leg. It doesn’t sound impressive, but the surgery allowed Siefert to be able to lift his foot up himself, instead of with the aid of a brace. He still walks with a slight limp but runs as well as anyone on the field. The surgery not only improved his durability, but his playing as well.

“I used to be tentative about getting injured,” Siefert said, “but after the surgery, I haven’t worried about it at all.”

Siefert’s emotions mirrored many of those close to him, so his surgery has made it much easier for everyone involved.

“I was more scared before [the surgery],” Jean said. “He looks a lot stronger now.” Now, Siefert is back to his old self, helping the Bombers on their journey toward a National Championship.

“He just keeps getting better and better,” Long said.

Playing on two good feet for the first time in four years, Siefert sometimes gets some playful ribbing about his walking limp by his teammates. When he gets on the field, though, the only ribbing is in the form of praise. Instead of wondering how the kid with the limp will beat them, teammates and opponents wonder how the smaller, fleet-footed attack is dominating them.