Philadelphia Flyers top prospect Porter Martone was on the ice for his first official NCAA game this week and we watched every single shift.
The former sixth-overall pick laced up earlier last week in an exhibition game against a Canadian school, the University of Windsor, where he was able to score a goal and earn an assist in the one-sided matchup, but this week was his first true taste of college hockey. Up against New Hampshire University, Martone and his Michigan State team started their season.
Through the two games, Martone was able to earn a total of three assists as the team’s first-line right wing. But, beyond the point totals how did he look? And specifically, how did he look in that first game — the long-awaited debut of Martone in the NCAA?
Well, we decided to compile all of his shifts into one video and then hop on the Broad Street Hockey YouTube channel to watch them. Check it out below (and subscribe):
Everyone should have a look for themselves, but overall, Martone displayed every single reason why the Flyers were so overjoyed that he fell to them at sixth overall last June. The physicality that he had surpassed most of what he was able to do with the OHL’s Brampton Steelheads last season, and while there were concerns his offense would slightly dwindle with less space on the ice, it was still all there.
Sure, there are times where there were some intercepted passes after he tried to thread something with a low likelihood of connecting to one of his teammates, but that will be fixed in time. It’s hard not to be overall impressed with what Martone was able to do in his first ever game against a competitive opponent in college hockey.
From here, there will hopefully be more of the same but the opponents get tougher. New Hampshire had an overall record of 13-16-6 last season and an in-conference record of 5-14-5 in Hockey East. Basically, they’re one of the bottom-third schools in Division I. Martone should be getting more than a point per game and showing his potential against opponents like this. But, Michigan State just so happens to be facing Boston University next weekend — a team that has the same National Championship aspirations as the Spartans and loaded with top-end NHL prospects, too.
It’s no doubt going to be an interesting season for Martone and while we are cruising right now and think the world of him after watching his first couple of games, there will be peaks and valleys — or, at the very least we should tell ourselves that there will be so we don’t expect too much.
