WINDSOR, Ont. - Former longtime National Hockey League player Pit Martin was presumed dead following a snowmobile accident Sunday.

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Former Detroit Red Wing hockey player Pit Martin (file photo)

Photograph by : Windsor Star

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Quebec Provincial Police spokeswoman Marie-Josee Ouellet said Martin, 64, and a friend were travelling on snowmobile along Lake Kanasuta near Rouyn-Noranda in northwest Quebec on Sunday. When they ventured out onto the ice, it gave way, plunging the men into the water.

Martin's companion was unable to save him, she said. A helicopter brought in to airlift Martin's friend and another man, who stopped to render assistance, saw no sign of him, she said.

Divers were searching for his body on Monday.

"He was a great little player, very competitive," said retired Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Johnny Bower. "I remembered he lit the lamp quite a few times behind me.

"He was a good, clean player. A good faceoff man. It's terrible to lose a great player like that that way. My condolences go out to his family."

Martin, who would have turned 65 on Dec. 9, played 1,201 NHL regular-season and playoff games in his 17-year career that saw him make stops in Detroit, Boston, Chicago and Vancouver.

After playing one NHL game in the 1961-62 season, the Rouyn-Noranda native finally stuck in the big leagues in 1963-64 with the Wings and stuck until retiring following the 1978-79 season with Vancouver.

Martin won the Bill Masterton Trophy in 1969-70, was a four-time all-star and is remembered for being part of one of the biggest trades in NHL history.

In 1967, Martin was one of three players shipped by Boston to Chicago for Phil Esposito, Fred Stanfield and Ken Hodge that helped lay the foundation for the Bruins' championship years in the early 1970s.

Former Wings teammate Marcel Pronovost said the five-foot-eight, 165-pound Martin was typical of a type of player that every team had in the Original Six era.

"He was very quick," said Pronovost, who still scouts for the New Jersey Devils. "He was a very clever player.

"There wasn't an ounce of meanness in him. His game was finesse.

"He was similar to Henri Richard and Dave Keon. There was a whole group of guys like that in the league then."

Hall of Fame NHL linesman Matt Pavelich dropped the puck countless times on faceoffs with Martin and recalls him being a quiet, hard-working player.

"He wasn't like Stan Mikita or Bobby Clarke," said Pavelich of two notorious chatterboxes. "He just did his job.

"He had real good hands and he never backed down from anyone. He was small, but he wasn't timid. He'd go right into the corners. I just remember him as a real nice guy."

Martin retired to his waterfront home near Windsor's Beach Grove Golf and Country Club where he was involved in the bar business and later swimming pools.

Former Detroit Red Wings broadcaster Budd Lynch played golf with Martin many times at the club and said Martin was very popular with his teammates.

"He was a great guy," Lynch said. "He was also a very ambitious boy.''

Lynch recalls one story where he and Martin combined to clean up in a little friendly wagering when the Wings were staying at a resort outside Chicago during the playoffs.

During a warm off day being spent beside the swimming pool, everyone tossed in $5 US to see who was the best diver.

While the bulk of the cash went on star players like Gordie Howe, Lynch placed his money on Martin creating chortles of disbelief from the other participants.

"What I knew from researching the players' backgrounds for the broadcasts that everyone else didn't was Pit was on the McMaster University swim team," said Lynch, a Windsor native and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

"I knew he could dive. Pit and I cleaned up that day."

Windsor Star