Ex-NHLer Pit Martin dies in snowmobile accident
Last Updated: Tuesday, December 2, 2008 | 9:04 PM ET
CBC Sports
Former NHL forward Hubert (Pit) Martin died Sunday in a snowmobile accident in northwestern Quebec. He was 64.
Provincial police Const. Marie-Josée Ouellet confirmed Monday that Martin was on a snowmobile on Lake Kanasuta near his hometown of Rouyn-Noranda when the ice cracked and he plunged into the freezing water.
A fellow snowmobiler told police of the sequence of events leading up to Martin's death.
Divers recovered the body Tuesday afternoon.
"I always admired him as a kid growing up in Noranda," Chicago Blackhawks general manager Dale Tallon said. "He was a wonderful guy — it is very sad."
Martin lived on an island in the lake that had to be reached by boat in the summer and by snowmobile in winter.
"I guess they caught a bit of a hotspot [on the ice]," Tallon said.
Martin played in the NHL from 1961-79, posting 324 goals and 485 assists for 809 points in 1,101 games with the Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Blackhawks and Vancouver Canucks.
"He was a great little player, very competitive," Hall of Fame goaltender Johnny Bower told the Windsor Star. "I remembered he lit the lamp quite a few times behind me.
"He was a good, clean player. A good faceoff man.
"It's terrible to lose a great player like that that way. My condolences got out to his family."
'His game was finesse'
Martin was part of one of the NHL's most lopsided trades in 1967, in which Boston dealt him, Gilles Marotte and Jack Norris to Chicago for Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield.
The latter trio helped transform the Bruins into a league powerhouse, but Martin became a key contributor for the Blackhawks and, according to Tallon, had "a very good career."
"He was very quick," Marcel Pronovost said of Martin, a former teammate in Detroit.
"He was a very clever player. There wasn't an ounce of meanness in him.
"His game was finesse. He was similar to Henri Richard and Dave Keon."
Martin, a four-time all-star and winner of the Bill Masterton Trophy in 1969-70, would have turned 65 on Dec. 9.
With files from the Canadian Press
