ANNAPOLIS, Md. — This weekend is one of the most meaningful of the year for Michael Martinez. 14 years ago Sunday this retired Marine’s life changed forever.
"March 10, 2010 is when I got blown up. We call it our ‘alive day’ because that is kind of like our second birthday," he said.
Martinez stepped on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. He lost both of his legs above the knee. Now the 33-year-old plays center for the USA Warriors sled hockey team, a squad made up of those wounded fighting for our country. He is spending Friday night participating in Hockey for Heroes at McMullen Ice Arena in Annapolis.
"Just a great way to bring everything together of love hockey but then you get to see the other side of we get to come together and see what everything is all about with the military, the veterans and actually coming together as a community," he said.
"Hockey for Heroes is 24 hours of non-stop hockey and it’s a fundraising event that we’ve been doing since 2014," said Sean McNaboe, President of Navy Youth Hockey.
Since 2014 the event, organized by Navy Youth Hockey, has raised over $500,000 for our country’s wounded warriors and disabled veterans. This year over $47,000 has been raised with the goal of over $75,000. RBC Wealth Management is one of the sponsors.
"Having it here in Annapolis you get to support a bunch of different veterans organizations with one event," said Mike Crowell, RBC Wealth Management Annapolis Branch Director.
"It lets a lot of people who probably don’t get a chance to see how we play hockey get a chance to see and experience it. Then at the same time any money that is raised from this goes to a lot of different great organizations," added USA Warriors captain Kevin Gatson.
This is the seventh year Hockey for Heroes has hit the ice. But it is the first time since 2019. In 2020 it was paused because of COVID.
Games run non-stop through Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. That is just in time for Martinez to properly celebrate his ‘alive day’ with those who mean the most.
"We are going to come together. We are going to support each other. But, really we take care of our own and this is just a perfect way to do that," he said. "This is what we are. It doesn’t matter how long it has been, we are still going to be there for each other."
Follow Shawn Stepner on Twitter @StepnerWMAR and Facebook
