Category Archives: Alec Martinez
>Monday Update
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The Miami RedHawks are the number one team in the country. Well…at least in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men’s College Hockey Poll. Miami finished two points ahead of Denver and grabbed four first place votes to nab the top spot. The rest of the top five is as follows:
>RedHawk Alums Hold Steady In Kings’ Organization
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12. Jeff Zatkoff, G
Zatkoff entered the 2008-09 season as the third in a triumvirate of goaltenders who would battle for supremacy in Los Angeles. One year later, with Quick established early as the starter in Los Angeles and Bernier a small step behind, Zatkoff has slightly fallen out of the picture. When taking Ersberg into consideration, the two roster positions in Los Angeles and the starting position in Manchester appear to be settled for another year, leaving Zatkoff as either a backup in Manchester or the starter for yet anotherECHL campaign. He might have the talent to be a serviceable goaltender in the NHL, but with so many other options available to the Kings, there is a lot for Zatkoff to overcome to get his chance in Los Angeles.
13. Alec Martinez, D
The next tier of defensive prospects is headed by Martinez – a mobile and positionally sound defenseman. While no single aspect to his game stands out above the rest, his solid all-around game allows him to be quietly effective in both ends of the ice. Martinez concluded his first season of professional hockey after leaving Miami University early. Scoring 23 points for Manchester, Martinez was a consistent contributor to the team even if not reflected immediately on the score sheet. Like Davis Drewiske, there is a good likelihood that Martinez will carve out a career for himself in the NHL in someone’s third pairing, but he has more offensive skills and so a slightly higher position in these rankings.
>Kings Vision with Zatkoff & Martinez
>Jeff Zatkoff:
http://kings.nhl.tv/team/embed.jsp?catid=731&id=44893
Alec Martinez:
http://kings.nhl.tv/team/embed.jsp?catid=731&id=44895
>Zatkoff News, PWR, Camper & More
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– Carter Camper has been named the RBC Player of the Month for December. The sophomore led the RedHawks to a 4-0-0 record in December and tallied four goals, and six assists, finishing with a +7 rating.
– Hockey’s Future has published the AHL prospects update for the Los Angeles Kings organization and both Alec Martinez and Jeff Zatkoff are included.
Here’s what HF has to say about Martinez:
Martinez is the more mobile defenseman of the group, but has been slow to adjust to the AHL. One of the better offensive-minded defensemen in college hockey last season, Martinez needs work on aspects of his offensive game to retain his reputation. If he can begin to find the back of the net with a little more regularity, the Monarchs might be set offensively from their blueline with the combination of Martinez and Voynov.
And Zatkoff:
Accompanying the promotion of Quick to Los Angeles was the promotion of Jeff Zatkoff to Manchester from Ontario of the ECHL. Zatkoff was enjoying an all-star season for Ontario as a rookie goaltender, placing third in the league in save percentage. Now acting as the backup netminder for the Monarchs, he is still at least a year away from earning a consistent opportunity in the AHL as it would be difficult to imagine that the Kings would sit Bernier for any extended period of time absent a complete collapse in his game.
– Speaking of Zats, he earned his first AHL victory on Wednesday night, with a 3-2 win over the Providence Bruins. Zatkoff made 29 saves for the Monarchs, who improved to 17-16-0-5 with the win.
– And finally, the always popular PairWise Rankings and Ratings Percentage Index have been released over at US College Hockey Online. The Redhawks are currently 7th, with a PWR of 18 and and an RPI of .5574, good enough for a 10th place ranking. I’ll explain PWR and RPI more in-depth as we get closer to the NCAA tournament selection in March.
>Around the Minors
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– Former RedHawk defenseman Mitch Ganzak carried his share of the load by adding four assists as the Wheeling Nailers defeated the Cincinnati Cyclones on Friday night, 9-7.
With tonight’s totals, Ganzak now has a total of four assists on the season and is seventh in the ECHL among the assist leaders.
– Another good night for another RedHawk defenseman as Alec Martinez scored his first professional goal in a 3-2 Manchester win on Friday night over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Martinez’ tally came on the power play, in the third period and was the game winner.
>Wednesday Tidbits
>- Today’s Miami Memory is a Goggin classic. Alec Martinez’ OT goal against the Western Michigan Broncos to send the RedHawks to Detroit and close out Goggin Ice Arena. You can view it at this link. Listening to Dave Allen’s call of the final goal gives me the chills…boy, do I miss that place.
– Justin Mercier has been named to the Inside College Hockey preseason All-American third team. No other RedHawks were listed on either the first, second, third or rookie team. Yikes.
– Former RedHawk Joe Cooper, signed with the Toronto Marlies, has been assigned to the Reading Royals of the ECHL.
– CollegeHockeyNews has released their CCHA season preview. The CHN staffers have the RedHawks finishing in third place.
With two unproven netminders and a young and inexperienced defense, Miami will have a hard time closing out games in a grueling conference.
– Ohio State has some “pre-Miami” audio/video on prepping for the RedHawks this weekend. Here, they have an interview with Defenseman Shane Simms, Captain Zach Pelletier, and Head Coach John Markell. Check it out to see the Bucks’ take on playing one of their in-state rivals. Pelletier sounds pretty confident that OSU can handle the ‘Hawks come this weekend.
– The Buckeyes have also released their game notes for the weekend series. Those can be found at this link and a game preview from the Columbus Dispatch, can be found here.
– AND…one final note. Photos from the Have Fun Play Hockey clinic from Tuesday night have been posted. Check them out here.
>Martinez Sent to Manchester
>The Los Angeles Kings have announced that defenseman and former RedHawk blueliner Alec Martinez has been assigned to the Manchester Monarchs of the AHL.
You can view the release at this link.
>Updates from Around the NHL
>Just a short update here. I’ve compiled this post of where our Miami alumni are, training camp wise after all the cuts, reassignments, and whatnot.
Los Angeles Kings:
Assigned goaltender Jeff Zatkoff to Manchester of the AHL
Montreal Canadiens:
Assigned forward Mike Glumac to Hamilton of the AHL
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins:
Assigned forward Nino Musitelli to Dayton of the ECHL
Other notes:
– Ryan Jones is still in the hunt for an NHL roster spot in Nashville
– Marty Guerin will be attending the Hartford Wolfpack AHL camp
– Nathan Davis is attending the Rockford IceHogs AHL camp
– Mitch Ganzak is in camp with the Binghamton Senators of the AHL
– Alec Martinez is still in camp with the LA Kings
– Kevyn Adams may indeed be a Chicago Blackhawk on opening night, as he was a free agent invitee. He’s had a solid camp for a veteran player.
>Monday’s NHL Training Camp Notes
>Los Angeles Kings:
Split squad game in Kansas City vs. St. Louis tonight. Jeff Zatkoff and Alec Martinez will both dress for tonight’s game.
Nasvhille Predators:
Brandon Felder over at HockeyBuzz has some great Predators news & notes and some great observations on Ryan Jones: (Thanks to Bill for the heads up)
“Ryan Jones is very good with the puck in tight around the goalie. He scored a couple times on the drill in which the forward comes out from behind the net and shoots near side.
Felder’s Friday Fantastic Five:
3. Ryan Jones – A pretty significant difference in Jones play today. I would have to say that Jones game translates much better 5 on 5 than it does in drills like yesterday. Jones took a pass from Mike Ryan, who had to dig the puck out from the corner, and set up Weber for a real nice goal. Also, Jones showed a real drive and played physical when needed. One of his hits even took out two Silver squad players at one time…
Ryan Jones on his first impressions of Predators camp:
“Well it’s a little different. It’s my first camp so I didn’t really have anything to base it off of. I came in early to skate with the guys and this is obviously a step up from that, the games will be a step up from this and then regular season games will be a step up from that so it’s a lot faster, the guys move the puck quicker, so basically I’m just trying to stay with my game and not really step away from it too much.”
Jones on his style of play :
“I’m a power forward player so I play a puck possession game, try to grind it out down low, look for guys open out front, and I just try to get to the front of the net, get in front of the goalie and clean up the garbage.”
Preds head coach Barry Trotz on Ryan Jones:
“Sometimes you just watch practice and Jonesy in practice blends in. But when you put 5 opponents on the ice and the game starts he always seems to be around the puck and the net. He made a real good play on that goal. That’s part of our game. It was textbook. Get on the forecheck, separate someone, get a loose puck with quick support and activate people from the backend and that’s how they score so it was sort of the textbook Predator game right there.”
>Updated: Miami Alumni In Training Camps
>As training camps begin to open for many leagues, here is a running list of former RedHawks who’ll be involved. Obviously, some of the names won’t be a shock, as there are a few “established NHL-ers” here. If you find a name I’ve missed, please contact me.
Binghamton Senators:
Mitch Ganzak, Defenseman
(Link to Official Release)
Chicago Blackhawks:
41- Nathan Davis, Center
(Blackhawks Team A Camp Roster)
17- Kevyn Adams, Center
**Adams was a free agent invitee**
(Blackhawks Team C Camp Roster)
Los Angeles Kings:
53- Alec Martinez, Defenseman
36- Jeff Zatkoff, Goaltender
(Kings Training Camp Roster)
Montreal Canadiens:
98- Mike Glumac, Forward
(Canadiens Training Camp Roster)
Nashville Predators:
28- Ryan Jones, Left Wing
(Predators Training Camp Roster)
New Jersey Devils:
6- Andy Greene, Defenseman
San Jose Sharks:
22- Dan Boyle, Defenseman
(Sharks Training Camp Roster)
Toronto Maple Leafs:
*Joe Cooper, Forward
(Maple Leafs Rookie Training Camp Roster)
Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins:
Nino Musitelli, Forward
(WB/Scranton Training Camp Roster)
*Denotes rookie camp attendee
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