Hubert Jacques "Pit" Martin (December 9, 1943 – November 30, 2008) was a
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
professional
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
centre who served as
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
for the
Chicago Black Hawks
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
of the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
(NHL) from 1975 to 1977. He was an NHL All-Star and
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy winner.
Martin played seventeen seasons in the NHL for the
Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...
,
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...
,
Chicago Black Hawks
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
and
Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. The Canucks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conferenc ...
.
Playing career
Nicknamed Pit is hunter pula, Martin was scouted by former NHL goaltender
Wilf Cude and joined the Red Wings organization. He is remembered among hockey fans as being involved in one of the most one-sided trades in history.
Martin got his first NHL goal as a member of the Detroit Red Wings in his team's 5-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on December 7, 1963.
Martin scored four goals in a single game on January 27, 1966 in Boston's 5-3 victory over Chicago.
In May 1967, Martin, along with Gilles Marotte and Jack Norris, was traded from Boston to Chicago for
Phil Esposito,
Ken Hodge, and
Fred Stanfield, who would become core elements of future Boston powerhouse teams. However, Martin himself was a bright spot of the trade for the Black Hawks, starring for them for ten seasons as a skilled two-way centre. He was selected to play in the
NHL All-Star Game
The National Hockey League All-Star Game () is an exhibition ice hockey tournament that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many of the League's star players playing against each other. The ga ...
in four straight seasons.
Martin played 1101 career NHL games from
1961–62 to
1978–79. He recorded 324 goals and 485 assists for 809 points. His best statistical season was the
1972–73 season when he set career highs with 61 assists and 90 points, adding ten goals in the playoffs as the Hawks made it to the
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...
finals. He wore number 7.
Death
On November 30, 2008, Martin was reported missing following a snowmobile accident on Lake Kanasuta near
Rouyn-Noranda
Rouyn-Noranda (; Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population 42,313) is a city on Osisko Lake in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, Canada.
The city of Rouyn-Noranda is coextensive with a territory equivalent to a regional county municipalit ...
,
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
.
He was riding a snowmobile behind a friend when the ice on the lake collapsed shortly after his friend had passed over it.
Martin was pronounced dead on December 1, 2008. On December 2, 2008,
Quebec Provincial Police divers recovered Martin's body from the lake.
Awards
*
OHA-Jr. First All-Star Team (
1962
The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War.
Events January
* January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...
)
*OHA-Jr. MVP (1962)
*
Bill Masterton Trophy (
1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...
)
*
National Hockey League All-Star Game
The National Hockey League All-Star Game () is an exhibition ice hockey tournament that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many of the League's star players playing against each other. The ga ...
(
1971 *
The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
,
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...
,
1973
Events January
* January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...
,
1974)
Career statistics
See also
*
List of NHL players with 1000 games played
References
External links
*
AP Obituaryin the
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Pit
1943 births
2008 deaths
Accidental deaths in Quebec
Boston Bruins players
Canadian ice hockey centres
Chicago Blackhawks captains
Chicago Blackhawks players
Deaths by drowning in Canada
Detroit Red Wings players
Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States
Hamilton Red Wings (OHA) players
Hamilton Tiger Cubs players
Ice hockey people from Rouyn-Noranda
Pittsburgh Hornets players
Vancouver Canucks players
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy winners
20th-century Canadian sportsmen