If you haven't heard by now, Denver forward Jesse Martin suffered 3 fractures in his C2 vertebrae Saturday night in a contest against North Dakota.Martin was up against the boards when North Dakota forward Brad Malone came in on the fore-check and laid a hit on him. The video isn't of the best quality but it looks like Malone's hit came in pretty high on Martin. Malone was assessed a 5 minute major and game misconduct for charging.
In a report by Denver Post writer Mike Chambers, Martin's father Terry said that Jesse was knocked unconscious and didn't have immediate use of his extremities. En route to a Grand Forks hospital he regained some movement.
Martin has been flown to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis and it sounds like doctors may perform surgery on his spinal cord today to relieve swelling.
From the Badger hockey community, I want to pass along our best wishes and hopefully a speedy recovery. One of our own, Davis Drewiske suffered a spinal cord injury in high school and has fully recovered and is now a regular in the NHL. Here's to hoping Mr. Martin makes the same recovery.
Update: Just read in the Denver Post that Martin called Brad Malone, the player that made the hit to tell him that he has no hard feelings. According to the article, the phone conversation lasted about 10 minutes. Really makes you pray even harder that Martin makes a full recovery with the type of kid he is.
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