WEST ORANGE - Lying on the ice in Skylands Ice World in Stockholm, unable to move his limbs or feel anything but pain in his neck, Monroe High School Center Michael "Mikey" Nichols didn't panic.

He hardly ever does.

“I started cracking jokes,” Nichols said. “I wasn’t scared.”

He might not have been, but the crowd and every hockey parent at the silent rink was.

It was late in the second period of a Jan. 4 game and Monroe was up 7-2 against Vernon. It was a non-league game, but Monroe needed the win to get to .500. Nichols was having his best game of the season, racking up a goal and two assists while being all over the ice.

It was the end of his shift but he stayed on, pursuing the puck in the offensive zone. He took a shot on net which the goalie swatted away.

What happened next was routine, an innocent play that, at worst, results in a penalty. But for Nichols, it was the moment his life changed irrevocably. Checked from behind, Nichols hit the ice and crashed headfirst into the boards at full speed.

“I’ve seen Mike go down so many times,” his father Steven said. “But this was different.”

Nichols was immediately airlifted from the arena in Sussex County and was diagnosed with a fracture of the C-5 vertebra.

“Everyone was crying,” Nichols said. “My mom came in crying, holding me. I was trying to cheer everyone up. I told her, ‘Mom, it’s going to be alright.’”

The following day Nichols underwent a five-hour surgery at Morristown Medical Center.

“I knew it was something bad,” Nichols said. “But I also knew it wasn’t something I couldn’t overcome.”

More than three months later at Kessler Rehabilitation Center in West Orange, Nichols continues to grind out his recovery the same way he’d grind out a shift, with consistent effort and a positive attitude.

“I want to go back to that spot and get up and get to the bench,’ Nichols said. “I might not be able to skate, and if I can’t, I’ll walk.”

Although Nichols is paralyzed with little movement in his left arm and no feeling sensation below his lower ribcage, he remains undeterred. Speaking with a respirator attached to his trachea, Nichols exuded the confidence that made him a difficult player to compete against on the ice.

“If they doctors say I have a 5 percent chance to walk, I’ll be that 5 percent,” Nichols said.

Doctors have indicated that it was too early to tell if Nichols would be able to walk or skate again.

“They don’t know,” his father said. “They really don’t know. This type of injury is different for every person.”

That doesn’t mean Nichols is being fed false hope that everything will return to normal. He understands the odds.

And he revels in the underdog role, recalling the time he was cut from a hockey team because he was considered too small to play. All he did was return to the league and score 6 of the first 7 goals.

“I’m a big Mets fan,” Nichols said. “I’m a Jets fan too. I love rooting for the underdog.”

Nichols' recovery hasn’t been smooth skating. After being released to Kessler following his surgery, he’s twice returned to the hospital with dangerous complications including a mucus plug that cut off air to his windpipe.

“My heart stopped,” Nichols said. “I tell people I died.”

He’s also suffered from bed sores, lung infections, a yeast infection and fevers. It’s been anything but easy for the 17-year-old senior, but it’d be impossible to tell by talking to him.

“I told my best friend that I know why this happened to me,” Nichols said. “I know I’m the only one strong enough to get though it.”

Nichols started playing hockey when he was 7 years old. A baseball and football player, he became enamored with life on the ice when his day camp first took him to an ice skating rink and he proved to be a natural.

“Once I started playing hockey, I quit everything else,” Nichols said. “I just wanted to play hockey. It’s still all I want to do.”

Nichols, a winger’s center, loves making plays happen. For him, a game isn’t measured in goals, but assists.

It’s the way he’s lived his life.

Nichols is known to his friends and family as someone who always put others before himself. Just like his life on the ice, he enjoys watching others succeed, knowing he played a part. Whether it’s setting up two of his friends or taking younger guys under his wing, Nichols lives and plays to help.

Still, the outpouring of support for Nichols has left Nichols and his family speechless.

The hashtag #PrayForMikey continues to generate tweets of support from friends, strangers and celebrities. Numerous benefit events, including a charity game hosted by the New Jersey Devils and a fundraiser at iPlay America with former New York Rangers, have raised more than $80,000 for Nichols and his family.

“I don’t think Mike really gets the magnitude yet,” his father said. “Almost every youth hockey player is wearing a 23 sticker (Nichols’ number) on their helmet.”

The support Nichols and his family have received isn’t limited to money.

“Spinal injury families become part of a larger family,” Nichols’ dad said. “We were reached out to very early on.”

Nichols father said Alan T. Brown, who suffered a spinal cord injury 25 years ago reached out to him early on as did Karen LeGrand, mother of Eric LeGrand, the Rutgers player left paralyzed by an injury sustained in a game in 2010

“She’s become a rock for my wife and I,” Nichols father said. “It was so comforting to talk to someone who understood.”

Eric visited Nichols at Kessler, leaving the Rutgers fan awestruck. Nichols, who considers himself a normal teenage hockey player, said he couldn’t understand the attention he was receiving.

“I told him ‘You’re a celebrity,’” Nichols said. “Why do you want to see me?”

The two spent a day talking about sports and girls. Before he left, LeGrand offered him words of advice.

“Never stop,” Nichols said. “He told me to keep fighting.”

It’s a message Nichols has taken to heart.

“I hate to lose more than I love to win,” Nichols said. “I’ll do anything to win, I hate to lose. This injury, I’m not going to lose to this injury.”

His attitude has served him well through the rehab process. Nichols awakes at 8 a.m., an hour unwelcome by every teenager, for occupational therapy.

“They teach me how to eat with my left arm, they taught me how to text,” Nichols said. “But I don’t even check my phone anymore.”

Then he heads back into his room, which is adorned with hockey jerseys from Monroe and Widener Universtiy (the college Nichols intended to play for) where he spends a couple of hours breathing without the help of a respirator. After that, it’s on to physical therapy.

“Today was very painful,” Nichols said. “It was excruciating this morning. I’ve never been so sore from anything.”

But it’s a process Nichols does not shy away from. He views his recovery like a hockey game that needs his constant effort, shift by shift, day by day.

“Mike is blessed,” his father said. “Had Michael just been going to the game and got into a car accident and suffered the same injury would he have the same outpouring of support? The hockey world, the student world, all put together, coming out for Mikey.”

Nichols' father said he has received calls from NBC broadcaster Pierre McGuire, and former New York Rangers Sean Avery and Adam Graves, all looking to help.

“People tell us you’re wonderful, you’re strong,” his father said. “You’re not seeing me, you’re seeing my son through me.”

Barring any setbacks, Nichols is hoping to be released in mid May to early June, right in time for Monroe High School’s Senior Prom, an event for which he already has a date.

He also expects to participate in graduation.

“I miss school,” Nichols said. “I’m not someone who thought I’d say that.”

Despite everything, Nichols hasn’t blamed the sport he loves for his injury.

If he has a son, he said he’d love for him to play hockey.

“I was upset my little brother didn’t play hockey for a week after I got hurt,” Nichols said. “It makes me happy he’s still playing.”

For more information, visit the Pray For Mikey Facebook page or the Pray for Mikey Giveforward page.