Presented by Chevrolet
Photo credit: Garrett James Photography
+++
For Maddux Martin, his entire hockey life has been a hometown affair. After playing his entire youth hockey in Salmon Arm and the surrounding areas, the standout centreman is currently living out his dream playing for his hometown BCHL team, the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
From a young age, Martin would attend Silverbacks games with his friends, recalling fond memories of watching former Salmon Arm stars like Akito Hirose, Hudson Schandor and Matthew Verboon, who are all still playing hockey professionally or at the college level. For the past 11 years, he has even lived just a 30-second walk away from the home of the Silverbacks – Rogers Rink.
The story of him making the BCHL three years ago is a bit of an underdog story. According to Martin, he was never the best player growing up, but his own perseverance allowed him to climb up the ranks.
“The thing that I always had working for me was my work ethic,” he said. “I was so fortunate for Tyler Shattock, our head coach. The Silverbacks were really the only junior team that saw anything in me. I came to their ID camp and they already had pretty much everyone signed, so I wasn’t expecting to make the team. But it was a goal of mine my whole life to make my hometown team, so how could I not try? I just went to camp and worked my butt off. I was not a skilled player. Everyone there was so much more talented than me, but Tyler just saw something in me and we’ve been working at it ever since.”
Martin got off to a modest start in his rookie year in 2022-23. As a 17-year-old, he notched six goals and five assists, while playing in 49 games, nearly an every-night player. But the 2023 postseason is when he really stepped up, scoring five goals and eight points in his team’s run to the Interior Conference Finals, a stretch that gave him the necessary belief in himself to excel in future BCHL seasons.
“I’m in the gym a lot during the season and staying late after practice,” said Martin. “I just got the confidence from putting in all of that work throughout the year. The playoffs is where you want to really show up. I got some confidence in the first round and just built on it. I used it as a fresh start. I didn’t have the greatest regular season, but that was okay. It was a clean slate for me.”
Since then, Martin has flourished. He more than tripled his rookie season point total last year with 34 and this year is up to 19 goals and 40 points with two games remaining.
He also received another vote of confidence this season from his teammates and coaches when he was named team captain to start the year.
“That was a huge honour,” he said. “It was always a goal of mine to make the team, but to wear the ‘C’ means absolutely everything to me. These fans here in the community are unbelievable. They’re so passionate and they want to win as much as us.”
Martin knows that community well. He has friends and family attending every home game. He can walk to practice and games. The current mayor of the City of Salmon Arm was even his principal in school growing up. That’s something he does not take for granted.
“A lot of guys have to move countries just to play junior hockey and, for me, to be 30 seconds away from my house, it means so much,” he said. “It’s so exciting when people you know are coming out every night. It makes you want to play harder for them.
With just one weekend to go in the regular season, Martin and his Silverbacks teammates still have a lot to play for. They are currently in a battle with the Sherwood Park Crusaders for fourth place and home-ice advantage, which is even more important knowing the two teams are set to play each other in the first round.
The Silverbacks have had some recent playoff success, but have ultimately been unable to get over the hump, losing in the Interior Conference Finals the past two seasons. With that playoff experience and a couple of heartbreaking defeats behind them, Martin and his teammates are as motivated as ever to finish the job.
“Going into the playoffs, our entire mindset, every guy in the room, is championship or bust this year,” he said. “We’ve been taking steps forward every year and now we’re looking to finally knock that door down. We want to go to the Finals and take that Fred Page Cup.”
