Once a prized recruit for Minnesota Duluth, centerman Charlie Dovorany of Wausau, Wis., has been forced to retire from hockey at the age of 19.

Dovorany has undergone three surgeries on his left knee since committing to the Bulldogs as a 16-year-old player at Shattuck St. Mary’s in Faribault, Minn. Another injury suffered this month while training and taking classes at UMD has him facing a potential fourth surgery - a cartilage transplant - on his left knee.

Instead, Dovorany is hanging up his skates.

“He didn’t want to put UMD in any bind as far as having him be injured and them not have a player, so Charlie was very willing to give up his scholarship and move on,” said John Dovorany, Charlie’s father. “It was a decision that, ‘I’m not going to play hockey anymore.’ ”

The Bulldogs have brought in Hermantown native Jesse Jacques, who turns 20 in September, to replace Dovorany at center this season. Jacques committed to the Bulldogs last week. Coach Scott Sandelin said they reached out to Jacques after learning Dovorany was done for the 2018-19 season.

Without Jacques, the Bulldogs would have been left with just 13 forwards for 2018-19.

Dovorany had undergone just two surgeries on his left knee when he signed a national letter of intent last November, only to have his season shut down in December after finding more damage in his left knee. He was back to 100 percent by May when he enrolled at UMD to train and take classes.

Dovorany, a 3.9 student who has since transferred to Wisconsin-Eau Claire to study business, posted 16 goals and 41 assists in 55 games for Shattuck St. Mary’s U-16 squad in the year leading up to his verbal commitment to UMD in the summer of 2015. He followed with 13 goals and 29 assists in 38 games as a junior on the Shattuck prep squad. He also played for the U.S. Under-18 Select Team in the Ivan Hlinka Cup the following summer.

The surgeries began shortly after the Hlinka, resulting in Dovorany playing in just 31 games the last two seasons with the Fargo Force and Tri-City Storm of the United States Hockey League. He still landed on NHL Central Scouting rankings lists and was named to the 2017 USHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.