FAIRFIELD — Cody Martin has been the football team’s starting quarterback and ace of the baseball team’s pitching staff in his career at Lawrence High School, but where the senior feels most at home is on the ice.
“Hockey is my passion,” Martin said. “…I just get that feeling when I step out on the ice that it’s where I belong.”
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On Tuesday the first line center for the Lawrence/Skowhegan co-op boys hockey team (11-7-1) had his hard work recognized when he was named a semifinalist for the Travis Roy Award.
Martin finished the season with 35 goals, 26 assists and a face-off winning percentage just under 90 percent in helping lead the Bandits to the No. 4 seed in Eastern A, where they lost to No. 5 Edward Little in the quarterfinals.
“It’s just amazing. I never pictured myself being nominated for the Travis Roy Award,” Martin said. “I worked very hard for it all the way up through.
“…I just want to thank my dad for bringing me to practices and putting me on the ice. It’s really made a big impact in my life.”
Martin’s coach, Ted Fabian, won the Travis Roy at Messalonskee in 2006 and remembers his experience of going through the nomination process.
“It’s a tremendous honor and it’s more than just an individual award, it’s a team award,” Fabian said. “The guys worked hard all year to get to the place that we were, but at the same point Cody basically took the team and put it on his back.
“…All around he’s just a great player, plays with a ton of energy every practice, every game and is just fun to be around. He brings up his teammates and beyond that he does his work in the classroom as well.”
While Martin has obviously worked hard to get to where he is, he also possesses that natural goal-scoring ability that cannot be taught, Fabian said.
“If I could teach that we wouldn’t be out of the playoffs right now. It’s just a natural thing,” Fabian said. “Natural goal scorers just have that knack for the net. They know where to be at the right time and they can just feel and see what the goalie is doing so far ahead of everyone else.”
Being in the right place at the right time also requires chemistry with one’s teammates and Martin certainly had that with left wing Andrew Carpenter and right wing Trey Michonski. The group was one of the most dangerous scoring threats in Eastern A this season, yet that did not come over night.
It took the group time to adjust to each other’s play at the start of the season, particularly given that all three are left-handed.
“That was a difficult decision. At the beginning of the year we struggled with that,” Fabian said. “It was basically between Trey and (Carpenter) who handled the puck better off the boards on the right side, who was more of a threat coming into the zone from different sides of the ice.
“It wasn’t an easy decision, we tried putting one of those two down on the second line but in the end it just worked out better putting Trey on the right, (Carpenter) on the left and Cody was always the center.”
If Martin — who intends to play football and baseball at Endicott College — wins the award, he’ll be the third consecutive winner from the East. Lewiston’s Kyle Lemelin won it last season while Parker Sanderson, of Bangor, took the honor in 2013.
Other semifinalists include Brandon Daigle, Biddeford; Isac Nordstrom, Falmouth; Dean Pratt, Noble/Wells; Andrew Whipple, South Portland/Freeport/Waynflete; Bradford Berube and Caleb Labrie, both of St. Dominic; Jake Fournier, Bangor.
The finalists will be announced Monday, two days after the state champions are crowned. The winner will be announced at a Sunday, March 15, banquet at the Ramada Inn in Lewiston.
Evan Crawley – 621-5640
ecrawley@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @Evan_Crawley
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