Sans a neck brace, Jesse Martin received a standing ovation after accepting the most-inspirational-player award at the 55th University of Denver hockey banquet Friday night.
Martin, who suffered a near-fatal neck injury Oct. 30 in a game at North Dakota, later delivered an emotional senior speech about his ordeal with his parents in attendance at The Cable Center on the DU campus.
“Life changes and different adversity is thrown at you, and nobody can go though those adversities alone,” Martin said before thanking a long list of people, including Dr. Alex Mendez in St. Paul, Minn., for repairing the three fractures to his C2 vertebra. “I don’t want this past year to overshadow my time here. . . . This year was one that I didn’t get to play as much as I wanted, but a year that I felt most part of the team.”
Classmate and best friend Jon Cook credited Martin for his remarkable leadership after he survived the injury, for “being so strong for all of us,” Cook said.
“We missed him as a player but were very fortunate to have him around all year,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said. “Certainly, Jesse was not only an inspiration to our team but to people across North America.”
Martin still hopes to play again at DU. He will earn his undergraduate degree in June and plans on beginning graduate school in the fall. However, he suffers severe pain and numbness in his arms.
The other major award winners were senior center Kyle Ostrow (MVP), sophomore center Drew Shore (leading scorer, most stars), freshman left wing Jason Zucker (top freshman), freshman left wing Jarrod Mermis (most improved), senior defenseman Chris Nutini (sportsmanship) and freshman goalie Sam Brittain (top defensive player).
DU finished 25-12-5 and one victory shy of the Frozen Four.
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
