Alec Martinez suffered a frightening injury while playing for HC TPS in Turku, Finland during the lockout when a slapshot from Tappara defenseman Juha Leimu caught him directly under the visor in November. Coverage of that incident can be found here and here.
In Thursday’s game against Nashville, the Kings defenseman had his first near-scare of the regular season when a shot from the point rose on him and nearly caught him in the same area.
Alec Martinez, on the shot that he absorbed versus Nashville:
“Yeah, I don’t know if [Kevin] Klein was trying to get it on net or dump the puck in, but I saw it was rolling, so I knew it was probably going to come high and kind of had flashbacks when I got hit in the head. It ended up hitting me in the arm. Obviously, better than the face.”
Martinez, on the injury he suffered in Finland:
“I had a fractured orbital in three different places, and then my sinus on my left side was broken. I had five fractures. Just a slapshot that caught me right under my visor. I didn’t even see it coming until the last second. Obviously, it was pretty unfortunate, but the doctor did a pretty good job. I have two metal plates in now. I don’t know. It feels pretty good now. It’s been about maybe 12 weeks now since the surgery, so it feels pretty good.”
Martinez, on what taking a slapshot to the face feels like:
“At first, I was just kind of in shock. I remember everything. I just kind of dropped. I just saw the blood on my visor, and then I saw it in my hand, so I knew that it wasn’t good. It was kind of like the feeling of in shock, and then you’re a little bit numb, too. And then, obviously, it takes a minute or so and then it sets in, and obviously it didn’t feel very good. Like I said, I was fortunate enough. I’m just happy that it wasn’t my eye. I was fortunate to have a pretty good doctor there in Finland to get it done.”
Martinez, on his career-high ice time of 25:21 last night, and his comfort level thus far:
”Yeah, I feel pretty good. I started skating again, I think, I want to say around Christmas time. I was out for about six or seven weeks, maybe eight. I feel good. This is the most I’ve ever played at this level. It’s a lot of fun. It’s exciting. I just want to keep it going.”
Don’t blame the guy for being nervous and playing that all out in his head. Tough as nails!
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I loved that dive to hold the puck in the OZone, too bad it didn’t stay in, but your level o effort has improved!
I have been more and more impressed with AMart this season!
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Santi Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 2:41 pm
@Mars, that was epic. I loved it
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Gustavo Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 6:11 pm
@Mars,
+20
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Martinez has been doing well playing against higher level talent on the 2nd defensive pairing with a new very young partner. I just wish half of our fowards looked as good.
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Michael J. Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 2:38 pm
@KC23,
I just wish our forwards looked half as good (on the PP).
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DesertKing Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 2:41 pm
@KC23,
I just wish our forwards looked. They have been pretty invisible so far.
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It seems like their is always a King player that this blog likes to kill….Penner last year…Gagne this year….
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Paul Armbruster (KingsNewsDaily.com) Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 4:27 pm
@neil, I made a comment about Murray that got filtered. Thanks puck. Can’t even make a joke about it now! Suffice it to say, dead horses and hockey go together like rented mules and farmers.
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Sean Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 5:08 pm
@neil,
I think Gagne has improved his play big time. There still seems to be the occasional shift where the effort *or willingness to hit something) can be questioned, but overall it has been better play. It may be time to stick him back into the top six group with the understanding that the 4th line (or healthy scratch) is a bad game away.
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Neither of those 2 video links worked for me. Any other options for viewing?
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I’ve been very impressed with his and Voynov’s play. Neither are overly physical, but they’re getting the job done defensively. I just wish the forwards could play with the same chemistry as the D-men do.
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xeropoint Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 4:06 pm
@FKA PakiFro, It really IS the forwards, so far. Which is very strange, since the forward groups are relatively healthy by comparison. Just goes to show what drafting from the back out can do. Hopefully the top six guys can get the cement out of their skates and keep pace with A-Mart and Slava.
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Cry Baby Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 5:07 pm
@xeropoint, Honorable mention for Muzzin who s playing great too.
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Martinez, Voynov, Nolan and Lewis have all jumped out so early on in the season. I think it’s going to take another 5-8 games before everyone is in a “regular” season mode.
Good to have hockey back.
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xeropoint Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 3:59 pm
@Hockey Jesus, Plus one^
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Defensively, the Kings have picked up right where they left off after last season, with Amart and VV stepping up in Greene and Mitchells absence. That is a good thing. Unfortunately, the offense has not picked up where they left off as far as scoring goes. The offensive players are actually doing a good job as part of the defense, but in a shortened season I think they will certainly ned to step up scoring to get us into the playoffs. Obviously, the key to increasing that offense is the PP, but this whole discussion is like, dare I say it, BEATING A DEAD HORSE.
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Lake Forest Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 4:29 pm
@DesertKing, Watch out, you know why Chicago is doing so well right??? Kompon…..
You know their PP% was 15% last year, now it’s 25%
And ours was 17.2% last year now it’s 6.1%
…………..
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DesertKing Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 4:41 pm
@Lake Forest,
If this was a regular season with a full training camp and the regular number of preseason games, with those numbers I would have to admit that I may have been wrong. I believe there is no way to make a statistical comparison to last season based upon the way this season started, which is why I haven’t been calling or Payne’s head (yet).
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Lake Forest Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 4:44 pm
@DesertKing, yeah, plus it’s only been 6 games. it’s still too early to compare, but i know your love for kompon so I thought I’d share!!
neil Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 4:51 pm
@DesertKing, agree… without regular practice the old PP system is still in play…….Also Kompon is doing well cause he was a coach of a STANLEY CUP winner !!!!!
Duncanz Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 5:42 pm
@neil et al, So if Kings haven’t had the chance to practice their new PP enough yet, how come the Hawks have been so darned fortunate on theirs??
I wasn’t a superstitious guy before this season but I’m starting to believe that no longer having any former roller hockey stars coaching our forwards has lead to the most incredible run of bad luck!
DesertKing Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 6:03 pm
@Lake Forest
Here’s a little write up on how tomorrow’s lineup should shake out.
http://kingsnewsdaily.com/penner-looking-to-add-some-bite-to-kings-lineup/
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kissmyblarneystones Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 5:19 pm
@Paul Armbruster (KingsNewsDaily.com),
That’s my good deed done for the day! I was saying how maybe Richie should take a breather and have Carts center a line between Cakes and Cliffy.
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Kman Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 6:41 pm
@kissmyblarneystones,
Carts centering Cakes and Cliffy…:D
That “line” just gave me the biggest chuckle I’ve had on this blog in a long time.
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kissmyblarneystones Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 9:06 pm
@Kman,
Think about it. Who is playing better cliffy ot ricky? I dont think MR is playing well right now. To me he looks clumsy and I think gags is better suited to play that line. But if you are not going to put him on that line, Id take cakes and cliffy over MR, at the moment.
Hmmm … with this caliber, it really doesn’t matter which team you love.
https://twitter.com/NHLBoobs/status/297504230724493312/photo/1
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Duncanz Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 5:46 pm
@goldiemines, Chel Babes, huh?
A lesser man than myself could find a lot of humorous raw material in tham thar hills!
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DesertKing Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 5:56 pm
@goldielocks,
Typical Ducks fan. She wrote the words backwards on her shirt. What a maroon!
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Kingsfanone Reply:
February 1st, 2013 at 6:14 pm
@DesertKing,
Duh! Ducks fan does see the world bassackwards!
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I hope Martinez does not start playing scared. Willie we need you!
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good to go. should be able to post now.
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