BUFFALO, N.Y. - Erik Cole woke up Friday morning hoping he was two days away from rejoining the Carolina Hurricanes after a week of practice, less than three months after breaking his neck. Instead, he found out he's more than three months away from returning to the ice.

Cole will not be back this season after a CT scan Thursday revealed his fractured vertebra has not healed enough to clear Cole for contact. The Hurricanes, who took on the Buffalo Sabres in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals Friday night, will have to move on without him.

"Even though I think we did all the right things to get the rest of my body ready, it's still not enough," Cole said. "We've certainly done everything we can. It's not meant to be. It's not a risk anyone's willing to take."

The Hurricanes said Cole, 27, should be ready for training camp this fall, and Cole said he expects no serious long-term repercussions from the injury, but it remains a blow to the team nonetheless. His presence on the ice over the past week raised hopes he would make a miraculous return, and when Cole left Buffalo on Thursday and returned to Raleigh for the scan, some teammates were quietly hoping he would be on the ice with them for Game 5 on Sunday.

Instead, they won't see him in uniform until training camp begins in September, no matter what happens against the Sabres or if the Hurricanes advance to the Stanley Cup finals.

"Everybody was holding out hope he'd be able to come back and play, but in the big picture we were worried about his life and career and that's going to be OK," Carolina coach Peter Laviolette said. "It's disappointing he won't be with us, but that was really third on my list."

Cole's conversation with the radiologist after undergoing the scan left him optimistic the ordeal was over. All he needed was the unanimous approval of three neck specialists, Duke's William Richardson, William Lestini of the Triangle Spine and Back Care Center and Los Angeles surgeon Robert Watkins, who Cole said was asked to analyze the scan by his agent and the NHL Players' Association.

But Richardson told Cole early Friday that although the fracture was healing nominally, he couldn't endorse his return.

"The vertical part of the fracture that came up from the bottom and turned into the spinal canal, there's still a clear-cut image on all the photos," Cole said. "You can see it. It's just not healed enough at this point to say, 'Yeah, I'm ready for contact.' But it's showing all the signs it will continue to heal."

So as it turns out, Cole's season ended when Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik ran him into the boards from behind on March 4. Cole sent text messages to 10 teammates Friday , then turned off his cell phone for a few hours as he digested the disappointment.

"We're frustrated for him," Hurricanes forward Justin Williams said. "Yes, we'd like to see him back and we thought ... we had a chance. But the reality is he's not going to be able to go, and he's one of our best players. The best thing to do is not sulk but go out there and do it for him."

Cole watched the game on television in Raleigh on Friday, but he won't be skating with the Canes when they return for practice today. With any possibility of a return out of the question, there's no reason to continue practicing.

Instead, he'll hang around the dressing room, still hoping to get his name on the Stanley Cup even if he won't be able to help the Canes try to win it.

"I'll be here waiting for the guys to come back," Cole said. "... I don't know that I'll stay on the ice now, because it's not worth the risk. There's no reward for me to be skating now so I doubt they'll even have me on the ice."