Martel is the league's all-time winningest coach, but he is also one of junior hockey's biggest dirtbags. Last night, the coach had one of his players, 18-year-old fourth-liner Andrew O'Brien, jump the Halifax Moosehead's 16-year-old Czech phenom Martin Frk. O'Brien proceeded to deliver a heavy duty beating while Frk never even dropped his gloves or threw a single punch (somehow the referee gave both players majors for fighting, but that's another story).
Admittedly, junior hockey is well-known for crazy incidents and fighting. It's expected on many nights. But for a league that made a big show about cleaning up this kind of thing a couple of years ago, Martel is a repeat offender of the worst kind who needs to be punished...severely. This was not an incident where two big, tough, willing boys went toe to toe. It was one player taking advantage of a young and inexperienced (not to mention incredibly talented) kid who wanted nothing to do with it. It brings back memory of the Jonathan Roy/Bobby Nadeau embarrassment of 2008. Oh, by the way, Martel was the other coach (Patrick Roy got all the press) in that incident, who played a very significant role in allowing that situation to escalate to the point where several teenagers had the crap beat out of them and one was charged criminally.
Martel was also a key figure in the biggest brawl in QMJHL history. He was coaching the Baie Comeau Drakkar at the time, who were visiting the Mooseheads at the Metro Centre. I sat in the stands as the team's engaged in three line brawls and amassed 485 penalty minutes (a record). All but a dozen players (from both teams) were ejected from the game. Martel inflamed the situation during the first fight when he stood up on the boards, screaming and waving for his goalie to join the melee. When the young goalie refused, an incensed Martel called him over to the bench, berated him, and pulled him from the game. His replacement, Patrick Lepage, was sure to join the fray when the teams squared off for a second time a few minutes later and, for his trouble, he got his face beat in by Mooseheads netminder Jonathan Boutin.
Before you call me a Halifax homer, keep in mind that the league dished out 11 suspensions as a result of the brawl - all of them to Baie Comeau. Martel got his standard 4-game slap on the wrist suspension.
Now, we come back to last nights incident. Martel sent a player on the ice with clear instructions to attack the opposing team's best player. The attack resulted in retaliation attempts by the Mooseheads that were foiled by a proactive officiating crew. But you can be sure that Halifax will not forget about the incident and, the next time they play, will eventually exact its revenge. And, unless the league takes action against this repeat offender, all of a sudden you have another potential Roy/Nadeau or Jeff Kugel situation on your hands.
The only question is whether Gilles Courteau will put aside his francophone bias long enough to punish one of the league's great white french hopes...
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