( Photo Credit: BMWCards.com )
By: Mark Allred | Follow Me On Twitter @BlackAndGold277
Happy Birthday To Former Boston Bruins Player Frank Martin!
Frank Martin was born on May 1st, 1933, in Cayuga, Ontario, Canada. The 6′-2″ 190-pound left shooting defensemen played his junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey Associations St. Catharines Teepees from the ages of 16 to 18-years-old. In his career with the Teepees who were located just south of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and a little west of Buffalo, New York, USA, Martin played in 141 games and producing offensively with 35-58-93 totals. His last season with St. Catharines was his best career OHA season when he posted 25-30-55 numbers in 54 games which obviously caught the eye of the Boston organization.
After a successful junior career playing hockey in Ontario, the Boston Bruins came calling and signed the big defenseman to a free-agent contract. The Original Six organization, and then Boston General Manager Art Ross would often find highly skilled players in the Ontario province region which was a hotbed and continues to be one of the best in the world. Ross’s tutelage and scouting methods to members of his scouting staff and ones of the future were key elements in landing former Ontario greats and National Hockey League Hall of Famers Milt Schmidt and Bobby Orr.
( Photo Credit: Ebay )
Martin would join the NHL Bruins organization at 19-years-old but would start his professional career with Boston’s American Hockey League affiliate the Hershey Bears in the State of Pennsylvania to start the 1952-53 hockey season. In 41 games with Hershey, he posted 5-4-9 numbers and in that same season saw time with his parent NHL club with Boston. Martin would get his first NHL points with two helpers in his first cup of coffee in the best league in the world. In the 1953-54 season Bruins coach at the time Lynne Patrick and GM Ross would take a bigger chance on the 20-year-old to see what he could do to stretch his legs in his first full NHL season. In 68 NHL games, Frank would post 3-17-20 numbers but seemingly wasn’t impressive enough for Boston management as they traded before the 1954-55 season to the Chicago Black Hawks for center Murray Costello.
After leaving Boston, Martin would go onto stay with the Black Hawks organization for close to four more seasons ending his NHL pro career following the 1957-58 campaign where he played in only four games. Frank would finish his playing career in the AHL making appearances in cities like Buffalo, Quebec, and Cleveland. His last known transaction per HockeyReference.com was in June of 1965 when the then AHL minor affiliate the Providence Reds claimed Martin in a “Reverse Draft” from Montreal.
Frank passed away in February of 2007 at the age of 73. Per Wikipedia Martin lost a battle with Lewy body dementia. He would finish with NHL totals of 11-46-57 in 282 career games. He was also a tremendous baseball player when he was younger and had a chance to turn pro in that sport but elected to take his talents to the ice.
Check out the new Black N’ Gold Hockey Podcast episode 176 that we recorded below on 4-27-20! You can find our show on many worldwide platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Spotify, SoundCloud, and Stitcher.
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