Edmonton product suffers broken neck

Here is a story from the Edmonton Journal that I found on line about Denver forward Jesse Martin, lets not forget this young man as he makes his recovery.

EDMONTON — The father of a city-born hockey player whose neck was broken in a hockey game in North Dakota on Saturday says the prognosis looks good, but it's way too early to know if his son can continue to pursue his dream to play in the NHL.

Terry Martin says his 22-year-old son Jesse has feeling in his extremities, but will likely require surgery within the next couple of days to align the multiple fractures in his second cervical vertebrae.

"The good news is he has got a good range of motion in his arms and legs," Terry Martin said Monday from bedside at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minn.

"It is traumatic, but there has been progress, and that's been positive.

"We have guarded optimism, knowing that it is really serious, but he is in very good hands."

His son suffered multiple fractures to his C2 vertebrae after he was hit with a crushing bodycheck midway through a contest between his University of Denver Pioneers and the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux.

The six-foot, 180-pound forward was skating with the puck out of his team's end of the ice when he was hit with a thundering check from Fighting Sioux forward Brad Malone. He appeared to be planning to make a pass, but was glancing down when the six-foot-two, 212-pound Malone caught him with his shoulder.