Max Martin raises the Ed Chynoweth Cup at the Art Hauser Centre. (Lucas Chudleigh/Apollo Media)

By Trevor Redden

Redden on the Raiders

Redden on the Raiders: Martin’s impact felt throughout organization

Oct 5, 2019 | 12:00 PM

After 185 regular season games and 32 playoff games with the Raiders over the last three years, defencemen Max Martin is on the move to Kamloops.

It’s always tough to see a player go, but this one has some extra bite to it as Martin has been such a steady presence on the ice and around the rink for the club. From the time I started working in Prince Albert at the beginning of the 2017-18 season, Martin has been one of the friendliest and most outgoing players around.

He’s been valuable on the ice of course with 110 regular season and playoff points to his name during his time in Prince Albert, but I think he’s been somebody who has made a huge impact in the dressing room and in the community, and he’ll be missed.

Talking with staff members on Friday, it was clear I wasn’t alone in that sentiment.

Speaking with Curtis Hunt after the trade was made, I asked about what Max meant to the Raiders.

International Spotlight

P.A.'s Howe one of 4 Sask. born players named to Canada's World Junior roster

8h ago

National

Ottawa to remove 30% investment cap for Canadian pension funds

12h ago

Budget woes

Golf and curling centre faces grim season without financial boost

15h ago

“When I think about the three-year process to build this team, Max was really the key guy. Hayes was in place, we had [Ian Scott], and then it was starting from the back end out. Marty was the first guy in the Guhle deal, he was with us through the lumps of that 17-year-old year,” Hunt said.

“Him and [Sergei] Sapego played huge minutes last year for us when it was really important, and this year coming back he really stepped up in a leadership position, started all the drills, great communication throughout practice, and played lead minutes in the games. Those things made it difficult but we’re grateful for his time here and we wish him the best of luck,” Hunt added.

Ahead of Friday night’s game, Marc Habscheid shared similar sentiments about the loss of a longtime Raider.

“He’s a great man. He had so much to do with the resurrection of the team and the culture of the team, and it’s a sad day. You see these guys go, and for me personally I’ve been with these guys a long time like Montgomery, Kelly, Scotty, and Pachal, it goes on and on and now Marty’s gone. It’s a tough day,” Habscheid said.

This type of trade is part of the business, especially when a team has success the way the Raiders did last year. Somebody had to go and the Martin trade made sense for Prince Albert, but there’s no doubt that the Blazers are better off today than they were without him.

Rivalries renewed

This year’s Raider schedule features a whopping ten games against the Saskatoon Blades on the heels of an intense Eastern Conference semi-final series last spring.

The Blades now have the edge over Prince Albert with two wins and a loss this year, while the Raiders have managed to pick up a point in both of their losses in the set. Kudos to Nolan Maier for his performance Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre, turning aside 36 of 37 shots, including 29 of 30 through two periods, in the victory.

After losing seven straight regular season and playoff games in Prince Albert, the Blades have kicked off the year with two straight road wins against the Raiders. The two teams now get a bit of a breather from each other as they next clash comes Dec. 15.

Tonight is the second game of the year against the Regina Pats, following a hard-fought victory at the Brandt Centre last weekend. The Pats came out guns blazing in that game, setting out to a 2-0 lead after one period with an impressive effort throughout the lineup. The Raiders were able to find another gear in the second period, slowly but surely tilting things back in their favour and ultimately putting five straight pucks into the Pats net to take the game 5-2.

If there was a lesson for Prince Albert that night, it was the importance of starting on time, as they don’t want to play with fire by giving their opposition an early lead once again.

Other roster moves

Cohner Saleski’s time as a Raider came to an end this week as he was dealt to the Red Deer Rebels in exchange for a fourth-round pick in 2021 and a sixth-round pick in 2020.

Saleski was a first-round selection, 17^th overall by the Raiders in 2017, but was unable to find a full-time spot on the roster with the club. He has had some injury trouble through his midget career and is also a part of a very strong 2002-born group of players on the team including forwards Ozzy Wiesblatt, Jakob Brook, Evan Herman, and Ivan Kechkin; defencemen Kaiden Guhle, Landon Kosior, and Braydon Clark, and goaltender Carter Serhyenko. The development of this age group likely factored into the move, and he’ll have an opportunity to get some playing time in Red Deer while the Raiders receive some assets back in return.

And then of course the big news that led to the Martin trade Friday was the return of Zack Hayes from the San Diego Gulls. Hayes and Brayden Pachal were one of the top defensive pairings in the league last year, if not the best of them all, and he will provide a big boost to the blueline with his physicality and all-around game for the rest of the year.

Habscheid on the podcast

This week on the Overtime podcast, Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid was my guest.

My goal with this podcast is to get away as much as possible from the day-to-day operations of the team and get a better understanding of the people in the organization. More than wins and losses and goals and assists, I want to share where people come from and who they are off the ice.

Marc covered a lot of topics in our 25-minute conversation, including the story of how his parents ended up in Canada, leaving behind post-war Luxembourg.

“After the war, there wasn’t really much left of the country. My dad had a big family, they were farmers, and he wanted to chart his own course. He had an aunt that he didn’t even know, and she was married to a man and they had settled south of Swift Current. He wanted to start something new, a new life, and he went over on his own and left my mom behind as he had to start on his own,” Habscheid explained.

“They weren’t really accommodating to him, and he worked hard. In today’s dollars, I did the calculation one day, he earned $15 a day. He never complained, his first night there they didn’t want him upstairs and he slept in the basement with his coat rolled up as a pillow on a piece of plywood.”

Habscheid detailed the time his father spent alone in Canada, doing what he could to make ends meet until he was in a position to go back overseas to marry his wife and bring her back to Saskatchewan. In that time, while working on a cattle operation near Maple Creek, he got his first taste of hockey as his employer drove him in to town to watch a few games throughout the winter.

From humble beginnings, the Habscheid family raised three boys on their farm and gave them everything they could, even though the first ten years of Marc’s life were spent with no indoor plumbing, insulation, or electricity. Despite some difficult circumstances, Marc learned to skate on a frozen pond in the yard wearing a pair of skates donated by a neighbour, which would ultimately lead to a lifetime in hockey.

OZZY OZZY OZZY

Saturday night is Ozzy Wiesblatt bobblehead night at the Art Hauser Centre, and this is one of the best that I’ve seen. They’ve got Ozzy standing on a milk crate holding the Ed Chynoweth Cup all in one mini statue.

All fans in attendance will have the opportunity to buy one with a minimum two-dollar donation to Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities.

–

trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On twitter: @Trevor_Redden