Josh and Allison Fricks married on May 20, 2023, a week after Commencement and four months after Josh's career-ending injury.
Flames Central features former DI men’s hockey forward Josh Fricks’ road to recovery from spinal injury
10/15/2024 5:13:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey
Josh and Allison Fricks, who chronicled his journey from stretcher to surgery to skating again on social media, were married a week after Commencement 2023 and welcomed their first child this past spring.
An update with former Liberty University ACHA Division I men's hockey forward Josh Fricks — who had his career cut short by a neck injury resulting from a check he levied on a UNLV player as they crashed against the boards at the LaHaye Ice Center on Jan. 20, 2023 — was aired on Flames Central last week.
After Club Sports athletic trainers utilized a cervical collar and scoop stretcher to transport Fricks off of the ice, he was later airlifted to Carilion Memorial Hospital in Roanoke. There, he underwent successful surgery to repair his fractured C-4 and C-5 vertebrae and made an amazing recovery from the injury, which could have left him paralyzed.
Liberty's student body and university community as a whole — led by Chancellor Jonathan Falwell and members of the LU Shepherd staff — prayed for Fricks after the incident.
"I remember on the night that it happened, I was getting a CT scan and … I just gave it all to God," Fricks recalled on the video segment. "I said, 'I don't know what this process will be, I don't know what my life will look like,' so I was just going to drop it on Him. 'I trust You. I'm going to do my best and just see what Your plan is.' We knew it was going to be a long journey."
He made an appearance at Convocation in late February 2023, walking onto the Vines Center stage on his own power, accompanied by Head Coach Kirk Handy. He later walked onto the red carpet at the LIC on Senior Night on Feb. 23 with his fiancée Allison Fenske by his side, and across the Commencement stage as well as to the altar for their wedding day in May 2023. The Fricks family welcomed their first child this past spring.
Video by Matt Warner/Flames Central Co-Host and Director of Athletics Media
After Club Sports athletic trainers utilized a cervical collar and scoop stretcher to transport Fricks off of the ice, he was later airlifted to Carilion Memorial Hospital in Roanoke. There, he underwent successful surgery to repair his fractured C-4 and C-5 vertebrae and made an amazing recovery from the injury, which could have left him paralyzed.
Liberty's student body and university community as a whole — led by Chancellor Jonathan Falwell and members of the LU Shepherd staff — prayed for Fricks after the incident.
"I remember on the night that it happened, I was getting a CT scan and … I just gave it all to God," Fricks recalled on the video segment. "I said, 'I don't know what this process will be, I don't know what my life will look like,' so I was just going to drop it on Him. 'I trust You. I'm going to do my best and just see what Your plan is.' We knew it was going to be a long journey."
He made an appearance at Convocation in late February 2023, walking onto the Vines Center stage on his own power, accompanied by Head Coach Kirk Handy. He later walked onto the red carpet at the LIC on Senior Night on Feb. 23 with his fiancée Allison Fenske by his side, and across the Commencement stage as well as to the altar for their wedding day in May 2023. The Fricks family welcomed their first child this past spring.
Video by Matt Warner/Flames Central Co-Host and Director of Athletics Media
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