ELMIRA TWINS CONTINUING THEIR HOCKEY JOURNEY
Cy Martin to join Rockland Nationals jr A team, while Josh heads to St. Marys Lincolns jr B squad
ELMIRA BROTHERS CY AND Josh Martin are taking their talents on the ice to the next level this coming season. After playing the past year on the Alliancewinning Waterloo Wolves major midget AAA team, the twin 17-year-olds are heading off in separate directions to pursue a joint passion in hockey.
It’s a significant departure for two brothers, who have often found themselves on the same side of the arena. Cy Martin, a goalie, will be joining the Rockland Nationals junior A team in the upcoming season, while Josh, a centre, is joining the St. Marys Lincolns junior B squad.
“It’s a town a bit smaller than Elmira, but it’s a nice place and they have a good fan base,” said Josh of his team’s hometown. “They get a decent amount of fans every game, and looking forward we’re going to be a young, fast team. And I’m just looking forward to playing there next year, and hopefully have a good year.”
For St. Marys Lincolns general manager Jim MacEachern, signing Josh onto the team was a no- brainer. MacEachern was actually the coach on the Wolves midget team in the last season before moving on to the Lincolns, and so got to see both of the brothers in action.
“I got to know Josh very well as a person and a hockey player, and I think quite highly of him. I think he’s going to be a good junior B hockey player for a lot of years,” said MacEach- ern.
“So when he said he was willing to come to St. Marys, we were pretty happy with that.”
Both brothers have a year left of high school to complete, and with St. Marys only an hour out of Elmira, Josh plans to continue attending EDSS for his final year and commute.
Cy meanwhile will be heading to Rockland, a community east of Ottawa.
“I’ll be moving there – I’ll be billeting there. I’m pretty excited for that as well. I think we’re going to be a good team. I know they made the playoffs last year, and I think we can be better this year too, so I’m looking forward,” said Cy.
The brothers started playing the sport since they were about 5 years old with the Woolwich Wildcats and found they had a natural affinity for it. Eventually, as they advanced in the divisions towards AAA, they moved over to the Wolves.
“We played some soccer when we were younger too, but just being in Ontario and Canada, hockey is such a big sport, you kind of just start playing it if you like it. There’s just so much opportunity to just keep playing and having fun and moving up the levels,” said Josh.
“I think a big thing was all our friends played hockey and we enjoyed it and we had a good team going in Woolwich. When we were really young we won a few championships in Woolwich. ... And just after getting a taste of that, you just wanted more. So we just kept playing hockey, just kept having fun,” added Cy.
With the two sharing a lot of time on the ice together, the Martin brothers have had a knack for egging each other on.
“It gets pretty competitive. If he doesn’t do something right I’ll give him a little advice, stuff like that. But it’s pretty good. It’s nice having just someone you can talk to all the time about hockey. Like if you come home from a bad game and you just want to talk to one of your teammates, you got one right there,” said Cy.
“It’s being there for each other,” he added. “I think we’ve always kind of been there for each other, so it’s nice to have that. So next year I’m not sure how I’ll cope with that, but I think it’ll be fine as well. But it should be interesting.”