‘They were with me when I went up on stage:’ Flyers’ Porter Martone and Jack Nesbitt honored their families on draft night
Martone honored his family along with the pond he learned to play hockey on growing up. Nesbitt honored his late grandfather.
Putting photos of family on the inside of the suit jacket has become a tradition at the NHL draft. Porter Martone wanted to mix it up a bit. Instead, he took a picture of his childhood pond back in Peterborough, Ontario, where he learned to play hockey, and put it on the back of his vest.
“I started skating there when I was like 2 years old,” Martone said. “That pond, I have so many memories from there. It’s where I fell in love with playing hockey, and where I wanted to make the NHL, win Stanley Cups. I imagined myself in Game 7 of the Cup finals out there, scoring the game-winning goal. I’d be out there every night. I remember my mom would have to put Vaseline on my cheeks just to stop the wind, to stop the frostbite on my cheeks. I was on that pond every single day for hours. It’s been a huge part of my hockey career. I still go back and I still play on it to this day.”
Layered over the vest were messages from his father, mother, and sister, printed in their handwriting.
His father, who was drafted into the NHL himself in 1996 and played in the AHL, wrote a few quotes that he has used with his son over his hockey career, signing off his message with “Always remember … No one outworks a Martone!” In her note, his sister called Martone her “biggest role model,” and all three letters show how proud they are of him.
“You take the jacket off, but I thought I’d keep the vest on because I wanted to bring that up,” Martone said. “They’re on my back. They were with me when I went up on stage as well.”
The Flyers selected Martone and Jack Nesbitt in the first round. Nesbitt dedicated his jacket to a family member who couldn’t be with him on draft night — his grandfather, who died just before the start of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs.
He covered the inside of his jacket with family photos, but the biggest photo was one of Nesbitt and his grandfather talking after a game. On one side of the jacket, he had his grandfather’s fingerprint embroidered, and on the other, his initials and his birth and death dates. On the collar, Nesbitt included something his grandfather always said to him while training: “Hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard.”
“He’s always been someone that’s by my side, been my mentor and he’s worked me out since COVID,” Nesbitt said. “Me and my brother would always go to his house after school, and he’d always have protein shakes and food for us, and then he made his own gym in his back garage. I always called him before games, after games, stuff like that. He meant a lot to me, and I really put that into my suit.”
Nesbitt’s grandfather grew up in Montreal playing and loving hockey, but he moved to Sarnia, Ontario, and ultimately pursued other goals. But he still loved the game, and started his children playing hockey early, creating a love of hockey that continued through to the next generations.
Although his grandfather couldn’t be at Nesbitt’s draft night, Nesbitt knows he was still by his side, looking down with pride.
“I’ve never seen him cry before, but I feel like he definitely would have,” Nesbitt said. “He put a lot of work into me. I was like his little project. He definitely would have been pretty happy. It was always his dream for his son or his grandson to make the NHL. He worked with his son a lot, Brandon Biggers, and he didn’t make it that far. I’m glad I got to do it for him.”