It’s getting to be a habit for Los Angeles Kings defenseman Alec Martinez, one that Kings fans hope he never breaks.
Mr. Overtime, Alec Martinez of Los Angeles Kings.
Martinez scored at 14:43 in double-overtime late Friday to defeat the New York Rangers 3-2 and power the Kings their second Stanley Cup in three
seasons. It’s the second time this month that Martinez has been the man of the moment: He scored the Game 7 overtime goal that defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 and sent the Kings to the Stanley Cup Final.
And proving that things do indeed happen in threes, Martinez scored an overtime game-winner in his freshman year at Miami University of Ohio that defeated Western Michigan University and sent the RedHawks to the Central Collegiate Hockey Association championship in the 2005-06 season. Overtime heroics don’t seem to get old for Martinez. Neither does winning.
“I saw there was a loose puck in my own end, and I just tried to get it in a forward’s hands, I think (Kings left wing Tyler) Toffoli had a great shot far pad,” Martinez told NBC’s Pierre McGuire after the game. “Fortunately, the rebound came to me and I was able to put it in. It was a great play by them, I was just the benefactor.”
Martinez’s playoffs and Stanley Cup Final heroics have sent people scrambling to Google and other search engines to learn more about him and his heritage.
“My grandfather—that’s the Spanish side of my family.” Martinez told the Frozen Royalty website in May 2013. “My grandfather’s brothers were born in Spain, but he was born here, in the States. That’s where I get my last name.”
“His wife, my grandmother, she was English-Canadian, and my mom’s side of the family is all English,” told MayorManor.com’s podcast in 2012. “If you want to break it down in percentages, I’m about a quarter Spanish. My parents don’t speak it, my dad doesn’t speak it. When my dad was growing up, the Martinez side of the family only spoke Spanish when they didn’t want the kids to know what they were walking about. I essentially have the last name, and a little (Spanish) in me but I hate to disappoint anyone, but I just don’t really know how to speak it.”