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| Martinez and Dean Lombardi (photo: C. Ikiri) |
Earlier in the week, we had Kyle Clifford on to talk about his new equipment endorsement with Bauer – ‘head to toe Bauer’ as The Colonel said.
Meanwhile, although defenseman Alec Martinez may have signed a contract extension with the Kings this summer, he hasn’t landed a stick deal yet. Nor does he even know which one prefers at this point…
“I’m still in the process of trying out a few different sticks,” the 24-year old explained. “I have a couple Bauer sticks coming in the mail. I tried a couple before, but the curve was a little too big. Right now I like the Easton‘s, but I’m willing to give Bauer a shot. I used them in college and liked them a lot. I haven’t used them in a couple of years, but I’ll try ’em out.”
Speaking of his college days – last month, he went back to his old stomping grounds in Miami, Ohio to help out for a few days.
“I was there skating for a week in August – they had a little pro camp for all the alum that are playing pro now. We were there working hard, but it’s also nice because you get to see guys you don’t get to see too regularly during the season. It’s a good time, getting to (hang out) with some of your buddies and getting to know some of the newcomers in the program. Overall, it looks like their program is going in the right direction and hopefully they can have a great year.”
As for the three young defenseman in Kings camp this year getting all the attention – Jake Muzzin, Thomas Hickey and Slava Voynov – Martinez only offered up the standard ‘they’re all really good hockey players’ and ‘it’s definitely a good battle right now’ type quotes.
For the really good soundbite, we turned to fellow Miami Redhawk alum, Jeff Zatkoff.
To set the scene here, we have to go back to around Christmas time last year. Martinez had been up with the big club for about a month when he received a mysterious letter in the mail from Zatkoff. Seems the utility bill back in Manchester was sky high because his roommates had run it up several times more than the normal rate.
I asked Zatkoff about the little ‘mishap’ this week…
“He (Martinez) was in charge of electric. But, we didn’t feel too bad for him since he was up here collecting the big pay check. We figured we could stiff him with a high one every now and then. His name was on the account, so he had to pay it! His credit was taking the ding, not mine,” Zatkoff said, while laughing after every other word.
Boys will be boys.
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