Seth (Seath) “The Magician” Martin

Position Goaltender

Shoots Left

Height 5′ 11” / 180.34 cm

Weight 180 lbs / 81 kg

Born May 04, 1933

Died Sep 06, 2014 (Age: 81)

Birthplace Rossland, British Columbia, Canada

Gender Male

Source: sihrhockey.org

PHOTOS

Quotes

When the Soviet Union came to Canada in 1972 to play the first of eight exhibition games, dubbed the Summit Series, a Soviet official asked sports writer Red Fisher about the new kid in Canada’s net. “Your goaltender Ken Dryden,” the official asked, “is he as good as Seth Martin?”

Smoke Eater greatest amateur goalie of his era

In Scott Young’s book War On Ice, about Canada in international hockey, Martin talked about mastering the Soviet Union, which had won two World Championships in the 1950s and dominated the next two decades.

“I finally figured, well, he’s not going to shoot from what I’d think was a good shot,” Martin said. “He’s going to pass it off. Eventually I had to play goal the wrong way, as far as I was concerned. They would just not shoot the puck from where they should have shot from.”

A young Tretiak took notice.

“I had also found a hero in hockey, a Canadian goaltender named Seth Martin,” he wrote in his autobiography.

IN MEMORIAM: SETH MARTIN – VLADISLAV TRETIAK’S HOCKEY HERO