Alec Martinez, former Shark

Some scandalous news broke this morning…Alec Martinez previously played for the Sharks! OK, he actually played in the Jr. Sharks program when he was in middle school. Martinez spent most of his childhood in Michigan, but spent a couple years in Danville, Calif., after his father — who worked for General Motors — was transferred out West. Martinez said he doesn’t recall going to many Sharks games during his time in Northern California…

MARTINEZ: “Maybe one or two, here and there, but I was always a Wings fan growing up. We probably saw a couple games, but not that many.”

Also, a couple days ago, as chronicled in this blog item, Drew Doughty talked about his childhood friendship with San Jose forward Logan Couture. The two players were born less than nine months apart, grew up close to each other in London, Ontario, and were minor-junior teammates for a couple seasons. Now they’re going head-to-head in the first round of the NHL playoffs. “It sucks for our buddies, that one of us is going to be going back home after this series. I’m really hoping that it’s him,” Couture said with a smile.

Couture also confirmed the long-told story that Doughty grew up as a Kings fan, and talked about their friendship and on-ice familiarity…

COUTURE: “I remember, in his bedroom he had Kings stuff on his bed. It’s weird how he ended up in L.A., because he definitely was a Kings fan. I was a Sabres fan. I can’t lie and say I was a Sharks fan, but he definitely was a Kings fan. … We grew up as good friends, lived a couple minutes away, and we still hang out all the time in the summer. We’re friends through hockey, and we also hang out off the ice as well. … I know a couple of his tendencies. I know he likes to do that little spin-a-rama move. I’m sure the guys know that already. But he loves to jump up on the rush.”

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