Game On Magazine 2017 Game On Magazine - Regular Season Edition | Page 68

a big strong forward that
comes to us from a winning
organization. We see great
leadership abilities and some
untapped offensive potential.”
Lamb was dead right about
Martin. The big right winger had
38 goals and 69 points in 66
games with the Broncos in 2015-
16 and although he’d gone
undrafted by every NHL
team, the San Jose Sharks liked
his size (6-foot-2, 215 pounds)
toughness and scoring touch and
signed him to an $800,000 free-
agent entry level deal. During
his first NHL camp, he was sent
to the Barracuda and split the
2016-17 season between the
Sharks AHL affiliate and their
ECHL club, the Allen Americans.
This year, the 22-year-old
has been mostly a fourth-line
right winger with the Barracuda
and has three goals and six
points in his first 20 games
“
WE SEE
LEADERSHIP
ABILITIES AND
UNTAPPED
OFFENSIVE
POTENTIAL
”
this season, However, he
did get a bit of a boost when
he arrived in Winnipeg.
With family and friends in
attendance, Barracuda head
coach Roy Sommer, started
him against the Moose, a
nice gesture on Martin’s first
trip back to Winnipeg.
“It was nice of the coach
to do that,” said Martin with
a smile. “My parents, aunts,
uncles, my grandparents and
a few friends were here today
so it was pretty great.”
Martin’s family has been
very important to his young
hockey career. After all, he
moved back to Winnipeg when
his engineer father, Wayne, was
offered a very good job. His
dad’s profession also helped
teach Jon about hard work.
“My dad is an engineer and a
project manager,” Jon said with
a smile. “He’s been involved with
work at the Assiniboine Park Zoo,
the airport, the Zoo again. He’s
always gotten me some pretty
unfortunate construction jobs
in the summer. I learned a lot of
hard work so that was good.”
The hard work is beginning
to pay off. While he’s still
trying to find his place as a
professional hockey player,
he’s enjoyed the first year and
a half of his experience.
“Absolutely, I’ve loved it,” he
said. “You leave home -- and
I’m a long way from home
now – with no more billet
family. I had to learn to cook
and live on my own. It was a
big change. But it’s been a lot
of fun. This is a whole different
experience for me, but I found
I enjoyed living on my own.”
Martin is simply at a point in
his hockey life in which he’s just
trying to get comfortable with his
surroundings. Simply put, he’s
learning to be a professional.
“Yeah, I’m just trying to play
my best here,” he said. “I just
want to get better every day. My
job right now is to just work on
my game. I’m not thinking too
far ahead here. I just want to
help the team win. For now, I’m
just focusing on getting better.”
“But it’s fun to play here
and it’s really exciting to have
the opportunity to play pro
hockey. We have a young team
and we have a lot of good guys.
I like it here and I like playing
for this team. It’s fun.” ❍
WE’D LOVE TO
MEAT YOU
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6 8 | G AME ON | R EGU L A R SEASON ED ITION 2018