Wilf Martin

Wilf Martin
Biographical details
Born	January 25, 1942 (age 82); St. Paul, Alberta, Canada
Alma mater	University of Michigan
Playing career
1960–1962	Regina Pats
1963–1965	Michigan
1965–1966	Alberta
1966–1967	Muskegon Mohawks
1966–1967	Seattle Totems
1967–1968	Cleveland Barons
1968–1971	Denver Spurs
1971–1972	Providence Reds
1971–1972	Salt Lake Golden Eagles
Position(s)	Center
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1972–1973	Colorado State
1980	Michigan
Head coaching record
Overall	1–1–0 (.500)

Wilfred "Wilf" Martin (born January 25, 1942) is a former ice hockey player and coach. He played at the center position for the Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey team from 1963 to 1965, including the 1963–1964 NCAA national championship team. He also served briefly as the head coach of the Michigan hockey team in 1980 before resigning for health reasons.

Career

Martin was born in St. Paul, Alberta, and raised in Mallaig, Alberta. He played junior hockey for the Regina Pats of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League during the 1960–1961 and 1961–1962 seasons.^[1]^[2]

He subsequently attended the University of Michigan where he played on the Michigan Wolverines ice hockey team during the 1963–1964 and 1964–1965 seasons. During the Wolverines national championship season of 1963–1964, Martin scored 34 goals and totaled 24 assists and 58 points.^[3]^[4] During the Wolverines run for the national championship in 1964, Martin scored two goals to lead the team to a 4–3 playoff victory over Michigan Tech.^[5] He was the captain of the 1964–1965 team. In two seasons of college hockey at Michigan, Martin scored 54 goals and 37 assists.^[5]

During the 1965–1966 season, Martin played for the University of Alberta Golden Bears and won the scoring championship of the Western Canada Intercollegiate Athletic Association Hockey League. Martin scored 19 goals and 18 assists and broke WCIAA records for goals and points.^[6]^[7]

Martin played six years of professional hockey for the Muskegon Mohawks (1966–1967), Cleveland Barons (1967–1968), Denver Spurs (1968–1971), Providence Reds (1971–1972) and Salt Lake Golden Eagles (1971–1972). In his first two seasons at Denver, Martin scored 70 goals and tallied 74 assists and 144 points.^[3] Despite missing the first 10 games of the 1968–1969 season Martin was Denver's leading scorer with 67 points on 30 assists and 37 goals.^[8] When he retired, Martin held Denver's single-season and career records for goals, assists and points.^[9]^[10]

In 1972, Martin enrolled as a graduate student at Colorado State University. He also served as player-coach for the Colorado State hockey team during the 1972–1973 season. The 31-year-old graduate student led the Colorado State Rams to an 11–0–1 record in the regular season.^[9]

In the late 1970s, Martin was the rink manager at the University of Colorado.^[11]

In March 1980, after Dan Farrell resigned as the head coach of Michigan's hockey team, Martin was hired to replace him. After coaching the first two games of the 1980–1981 season, Martin stepped down for health reasons. He announced his resignation in late November 1980, eight months after being hired.^[12]^[13] At the time of his resignation, Martin said, "I've been having some health problems and have been away from the team for quite a while. I felt that in all fairness to the team and the program that I should resign."^[11] Athletic director said at the time that Martin would remain with the athletic department in a position to be determined.^[11]

Martin remained an employee of the University of Michigan athletic department. He retired in 2005.^[14]

Head coaching record

College

Statistics overview
Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing
Michigan Wolverines (WCHA / Big Ten †) (1980–1980)
1980–81	Michigan	1–1–0†	0–0–0 / 0–0–0	– / –
Michigan:		1–1–0	0–0–0 / 0–0–0
Total:		1–1–0
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

†Martin resigned after 2 games

References

^ "Top Scorer: John Rodger Makes His Mark In SJHL". Winnipeg Free Press. November 2, 1960.
^ "Pats Grab First Place". The Leader-Post (Regina). March 15, 1962.
^ ^a ^b "Wilf Martin". hockeydb.com.
^ Bacon, John U. (August 1, 2001). Blue Ice: The Story of Michigan Hockey. University of Michigan Press. p. 162. ISBN 0-472-06781-8.
^ ^a ^b "Wilf Martin". Dekers Blue Line Club Hall of Fame.
^ "Martin top in scoring". the Leader-Post (Regina). March 17, 1966.
^ "Martin Shatters Scoring Record". The Calgary Herald (CP wire story). February 16, 1966.
^ "Spurs Sign Wilf Martin". Greeley Tribune. October 9, 1969.
^ ^a ^b "CSU, NAU Open Ice Tourney". Albuquerque Journal. March 15, 1973.
^ "Golden Eagles Fall To Spurs". The Post-Register, Idaho Falls. March 30, 1970.(single season records)
^ ^a ^b ^c "Martin resigns Wolve hockey post". Wisconsin State Journal. November 28, 1980.
^ "Michigan hockey coach steps down". The Milwaukee Sentinel. November 28, 1980.
^ Martha Crall (February 11, 1981). "It's official: Giordano named permanent icer coach". The Michigan Daily.
^ "2004–05 IHM vs. Bowling Green – Postgame Notes". University of Michigan. March 5, 2005.

External links

[1] "Top Scorer: John Rodger Makes His Mark In SJHL". Winnipeg Free Press. November 2, 1960.

[2] "Pats Grab First Place". The Leader-Post (Regina). March 15, 1962.

[DB-3] "Wilf Martin". hockeydb.com.

[bacon-4] Bacon, John U. (August 1, 2001). Blue Ice: The Story of Michigan Hockey. University of Michigan Press. p. 162. ISBN 0-472-06781-8.

[Dek-5] "Wilf Martin". Dekers Blue Line Club Hall of Fame.

[6] "Martin top in scoring". the Leader-Post (Regina). March 17, 1966.

[7] "Martin Shatters Scoring Record". The Calgary Herald (CP wire story). February 16, 1966.

[8] "Spurs Sign Wilf Martin". Greeley Tribune. October 9, 1969.

[CSU-9] "CSU, NAU Open Ice Tourney". Albuquerque Journal. March 15, 1973.

[10] "Golden Eagles Fall To Spurs". The Post-Register, Idaho Falls. March 30, 1970.(single season records)

[Resi-11] "Martin resigns Wolve hockey post". Wisconsin State Journal. November 28, 1980.

[Step-12] "Michigan hockey coach steps down". The Milwaukee Sentinel. November 28, 1980.

[Perm-13] Martha Crall (February 11, 1981). "It's official: Giordano named permanent icer coach". The Michigan Daily.

[14] "2004–05 IHM vs. Bowling Green – Postgame Notes". University of Michigan. March 5, 2005.

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v t e Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey
Venues	Weinberg Coliseum (1914–1973) Yost Ice Arena (1973–present)
Coaches	Joseph Barss (1922–27) Eddie Lowrey (1927–44) Vic Heyliger (1944–57) Al Renfrew (1957–73) Dan Farrell (1973–80) Wilf Martin (1980) John Giordano (1980–84) Red Berenson (1984–2017) Mel Pearson (2017–2022) Brandon Naurato (2022–present)
Seasons	1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Conference affiliations	MCHA/WIHL/WCHA (1951–1958, 1959–1981) CCHA (1981–2013) Big Ten (1958–1981, 2013–present)
Rivalries	Michigan State Minnesota Notre Dame
Culture & lore	Great Lakes Invitational The Big Chill at the Big House Cold War Faceoff on the Lake
All-time leaders	Statistical leaders Brendan Morrison (284 Points) Denny Felsner (139 Goals) Marty Turco (127 Wins)
National championships	1948 1951 1952 1953 1955 1956 1964 1996 1998
Frozen Four appearances	1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1962 1964 1977 1992 1993 1995 1996 1997 1998 2001 2002 2003 2008 2011 2018 2022 2023 2024
NCAA Tournament appearances	1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1962 1964 1977 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2016 2018 2021 2022 2023 2024
Conference Tournament titles	CCHA: 1994 1996 1997 1999 2002 2003 2005 2008 2010 Big Ten: 2016 2022 2023
Hobey Baker winners	Brendan Morrison (1997) Kevin Porter (2008) Adam Fantilli (2023)
University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI