There was a time during my youth in northern Manitoba when my favourite hockey team was Canada’s national men’s team. I couldn’t wait for their international games that would be broadcast on CBC Radio, mostly with Fred Walker calling the play. These were the teams of Marshall Johnston and Roger Bourbonnais and Terry O’Malley and Barry McKenzie and Ray Cadieux and Gary Begg and the Golden Hawk, Fran Huck. Mostly, though, there was the goaltender, Seth Martin. To me, he was the greatest goaltender in the world, especially when Canada was up against the great Russian bear. The Russians, you can bet, respected Martin as much, if not more, than any other player back then. . . . In 1961, with Martin in goal, his hometown Trail Smoke Eaters won the world championship in Switzerland. . . . Seth Martin died Saturday in Trail, B.C. He was 81. . . . There is more right here. . . . Joe Pelletier, over at Greatest Hockey Legends, wrote about Martin in 2006. That piece is right here.
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Police in Kingston, Ont., are looking for the public’s assistant as they search for Shawn Crickard, 32, who hasn’t been seen since the middle of the week. Crickard, a Kingston resident, once played with the SJHL’s Yorkton Terriers. . . . There is more right here.
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A story that won’t go away involves the desire of some western-based NHL clubs to have AHL affiliates closer to them. Bill Ballou of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette has a story right here that looks at things from the perspective of the San Jose Sharks.
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Kei Nishikori will play for the U.S. Open tennis championship this evening in New York City. Nishikori, 24, is the first Asian man in history to reach the final of a Grand Slam event. That means, as Hiroko Tabuchi of The New York Times reports right here, that he casts a rather large shadow in his native Japan . . . even though he has lived in Floriday since he was 14.
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It used to be that when you heard of an athlete or ex-athlete behaving erratically, you automatically thought of alcohol and drugs. These days, however, you wonder about the possible involvement of brain injuries. Paola Boivin of the Arizona Republic wonders if that’s the case with former quarterback Max Hall, who had a run-in with the law late last week. Boivin’s piece is right here.
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There were stories being told at the memorial service for comedy queen Joan Rivers in Manhattan on Sunday. James Barron of The New York Times reports right here. It includes Rivers’ instructions for her own funeral and if you haven’t seen them, you should.
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The Kelowna Rockets will be without F Dillon Dube, the 21st overall selection in the 2013 bantam draft, for more than a month with an undisclosed injury. Rockets head coach Dan Lambert told Larry Fisher of the Kelowna Daily Courier that Dube was injured in practice. Dube, From Cochrane, Alta., had 63 points, including 21 goals, with the midget AAA Notre Dame Argos last season. . . . Eric Godard (Lethbridge, 1997-2000) has joined the coaching staff of the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers. He was with the BCHL’s Salmon Arm SilverBacks last season.
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