Jack Jablonski has made it to the NHL.
The 20-year-old hoped to do so as a player, but a spinal-cord injury sustained in a high school game in 2011 left him paralyzed from the chest down. This season, the Los Angeles Kings hired him to work as an intern in their communications department. Jablonski is a student at the University of Southern California studying journalism and communications.
''I definitely wanted to keep pursuing a career in hockey and that hockey lifestyle, and I’m super interested in PR and communications, so I hoped I could find an area that was a good fit," Jablonski told the Orange County Register in an article published Saturday.
After his injury, Jablonski received support from a number of athletes, including NHL players. He said he's now focused on the next chapter in his life, which still involves hockey.
"Having had the opportunity to work in radio the last couple years, that's been a blast," said Jablonski, who hosted a hockey radio show in Minnesota the past two years. "That’s definitely an interest and passion of mine. But I've been looking into anything in sports media. I don't know where I want to go and what I want to do exactly, but that's what this time is for and I'm looking forward to figuring it out."
A lifelong Minnesota Wild fan, Jablonski will see his childhood team visit the Kings on Friday. He has raised money for spinal-cord injuries and research with his BEL13VE Foundation.
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