MONTREAL — Montreal Juniors forward Angelo Esposito has been sidelined indefinitely with a knee injury.

The 19-year-old member of Canada’s gold-medal team at the world junior championships was injured during the Juniors’ 4-2 victory over the Victoriaville Tigers Wednesday night at the Verdun Auditorium. Team publicist Valerie Clement confirmed Esposito underwent an MRI Thursday, but results of the examination won’t be known until Friday.

The Juniors are 27-24-1-2 and in second place in the Telus Division.

The Montreal native is the Juniors’ top goal-scorer with 24 in 35 games, and third in points with 42.

The loss of Esposito comes days after centre Luke Adam was sidelined for the remainder of the season after suffering a ruptured spleen in a 4-2 win over the Baie Comeau Drakkar on Sunday. The 18-year-old from St. John’s underwent a two-hour emergency operation and was still in hospital Thursday. Adam is second in team scoring with 22 goals and 27 assists in 47 games.

The Juniors also will be without the services of top defenceman T.J. Brennan as he sits out the remainder of a five-game suspension handed down by the league’s disciplinary prefect.

The 19-year-old from Willingbord, N.J., who is fourth in team scoring, was slapped with an automatic one-game suspension for attempting to injure an opponent in Montreal’s 7-5 loss to the Gatineau Olympics on Saturday, and was handed an additional four games by the league before Wednesday’s game against Victoriaville.

Montreal Gazette