CINCINNATI — The loud snap didn’t do it, nor did the glance down at his right leg, bone grotesquely protruding, foot going in the wrong direction, teammates scurrying away in nauseating horror.

No, the moment when Dustin Darou began to understand the seriousness of his injury was when he arrived at Tufts Medical Center (by ambulance), and he asked a doctor how much time a typical hockey player can expect to miss after suffering a broken tibia and dislocated ankle, as Darou had an hour earlier, while competing in, of all things, a Wiffle ball tournament.

The answer: At least four months, likely five, maybe longer. It was June 20, which meant the recovery time would cut into his senior season at Northeastern.

“That’s when it sunk in, that’s when I knew it was going to be a while. I think tears almost came to my eyes, because I had such high hopes for the season,’’ said Darou, a 24-year-old senior. “That’s when reality set in.’’

As Darou continued to rehab from his injury, the 2015-16 season started without him, and it couldn’t have gone much worse for the Huskies. They started 1-11-2, showing no indication of what was to come. They got Darou back — plus a few others who had missed games the first half of the season — and started winning.

Now, it seems, Northeastern can’t stop winning. An undefeated January (6-0-1), followed by a near-perfect February (7-1-1), then what’s been a spotless March (6-0). That torrid stretch included the Hockey East tournament championship, and has brought the Huskies here, to the Queen City, where they’ll end a six-year NCAA Tournament drought on Friday afternoon. Northeastern (22-13-5), the No. 4 seed in the Midwest Regional, will face top-seeded North Dakota (30-6-4) at 2 p.m. in US Bank Arena. Michigan meets Notre Dame in the second semifinal — both games will be televised on ESPNU — and Friday’s winners play on Saturday for a spot in the Frozen Four.

None of it — not the injury to Darou, not the rough start, not the current run that’s taken the Huskies to their first NCAA Tournament since 2009 — could have been predicted. Sometimes, though, an unexpected ride brings a healthy pinch of perspective.

“Obviously, your senior season you want to play the whole thing, but since I’ve been back there’s only been one loss, and there really haven’t been any downs,’’ Darou said. “It’s been an unbelievable senior season. I really can’t complain. The first part was tough, but since I’ve been back, it’s been crazy.’’

We’ll take that to mean crazy good, not the crazy scene that took place on the Boston University campus last June. Northeastern’s hockey team was playing in a Wiffle ball tournament that benefits the Travis Roy Foundation, and was placed in the Beanpot division, opposite Harvard. Darou, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound defenseman whose biggest play to that point had been a game-winning goal against Boston College in the Beanpot semifinals the season before, was standing on first base. There was a base hit to the outfield, so Darou rounded second base and was chugging toward third, not sure if he should slide or not. That indecision produced an ugly slide, his right foot catching the dirt at an awkward angle, bones snapping like tree branches.

Northeastern coach Jim Madigan had been at the game, but had returned to campus. Then his cellphone rang. It was Kevin Roy, the Huskies’ senior captain.

“He says in kind of his fractured English and French, ‘Coach, an accident, something happened. Dusty got really hurt. The ambulance is here. It’s so gross we couldn’t even look at it. They’re taking him to the hospital now,’’’ Madigan recalled.

“I meet him at the hospital, he’s in a lot of pain. They bandage him up, then he’s having surgery on July 1. Here’s a big, strong, thick kid, he has surgery, and now he’s in school, his mobility is limited, he can’t get around, and he goes through a rehab that lasts 7 ½ months before he’s able to play.’’

Darou’s first game was Jan. 8 at St. Lawrence, an omen because it was near his hometown of Perth, Ontario, so his family could attend. The Huskies swept the series, the first of six straight two-game sweeps to close the regular season. Northeastern then took two straight Hockey East tournament games against Maine, two straight at Notre Dame, and finally two straight at TD Garden last weekend for their first conference tournament title in 28 years.

The paltry numbers (no goals, two assists) don’t begin to tell the impact Darou has made.

“He solidified our defense, because he’s strong and he’s heavy. He gave us another element that we didn’t really have, and everyone on the team was happy for him,’’ Madigan said. “He’s played extremely well these last 22 games. He comes back and gives us something we needed.

“He’s a wonderful story of perseverance and dedication, because let’s face it, when he came back we had three wins, but there was that thirst and that drive to want to play with his senior classmates, to play for the love of the game, and help our team in any way. No way did we think that with him coming back, we were going to go on that run.’’

Yet they have, and now a senior season that began with Darou unable to go on the ice will conclude in the NCAA Tournament.

The only unknown is how many games the Huskies will play. One is guaranteed. They’d prefer four.

Michael Whitmer can be reached at mwhitmer@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeWhitmer.