I am not sure if anyone is interested, but I wrote this piece for the BU Hockey group
over on Yahoo and thought I would post it to Hockey-L as it might be appreciated
here (even by none BU fans).  Sean

Donald Hughes Martin: BU’s First Star Goalie

As the 1924-25 season began Boston University’s hockey
program was starting its third consecutive, and fifth overall,
season.  The Terriers were still looking for their first winning
season, as they had just 3 wins in 20 games during the previous four.

Enter Dr. George J. “Chippie” Gaw, BU’s fourth head coach, who
came to BU with an excellent resume.  He arrived at BU fresh
from coaching Princeton University for two seasons to a
combined 24-11-1 record.  The season before that he had been
head coach at Dartmouth for one season, guiding the Indians (as
Dartmouth was known as at that time) to a 4-1-1 record.  And the
season before that Coach Gaw had been head coach across the Charles at
MIT, where he lead the Beavers (or Engineers) for a season, guiding
them to a 3-5 record.

But a new coach by himself would not be enough, as BU had
been outscored 90 to 36 since first icing a hockey team, 42 to 11 the
previous season alone. The Terriers had a returning goalie, Peter
Kelley, but he had not played well the previous season.  That allowed
the new freshman goalie, Don Martin, to win the starting job in
practice before the start of the season.  This in itself was
remarkable as Martin was the substitute goalie on the Newton High team
the previous season.  However, he showed himself up to the task of
being the Terriers’ starting goalie in the first game of the season,
as he led the Terriers to a 3-3 tie with cross-river rival MIT.  The
second game of the season was against perennial power Harvard, and it
showed as the Crimson easily won, 6-1, scoring four times on Martin
before he was replaced by Peter Kelley. According to one report Martin
had inflamed eyes but did not inform Coach Gaw before the game.

Despite the loss to Harvard, Coach Gaw started Martin in the
next game, a game that turned him into BU’s first star goalie.
With Christmas just two days away, BC and BU meet for the first
time on the ice in almost two years.  The Eagles had won all four
previous games, and although the Terriers had taken the Eagles to
triple overtime in a game two seasons previously, no one expected this
game to be close.  Because of this, according to the Boston Post, no
official record of saves was made for the game.  According to the
articles of the game the Eagles totally dominated the Terriers, but
were unable to get the puck past Martin.  BU’s lone, and winning, goal
was scored by Charles Viano, a defenseman, on a long shot that eluded
BC’s star goalie Jack Fitzgerald two minutes into the second period.
After that it was all Don Martin, as he made the 1-0 lead standup and
led the Terriers to their first win and first shutout over archrival
Boston College.  According to the Boston Post a close student of
hockey conservatively estimated the stops made by Martin in the game
between 60 and 70.

Martin lost his next start against Hamilton College at Sage Rink in
Clinton, NY, giving up 2 goals in a 2-0 loss.  He then backstopped BU
to six straight victories, including BU’s first victories against
Cornell, 7-2, on Beebe Lake in Ithaca; Bowdoin, 6-1, at Boston Arena;
Army, 4-3, at Stuart Rink at West Point; and New Hampshire, 5-1, at
the Arena.  He also defeated MIT, 2-1, in the second meeting of the
season and non-collegiate foe Briarcliff Lodge, 4-1, at Briarcliff
Manor, NY.  Kelley only saw playing time in the Bowdoin and New
Hampshire games the rest of the season.  First he relieved Martin
after Bowdoin’s lone goal in the third period of that game, and then
relieved him for the third period of the New Hampshire game.

Unfortunately, for both Martin and BU, he lost the final two
games of the season, to Yale, 2-1, and Boston College, 3-0, both
played at the Arena.  The Yale game once again showed Martin’s
abilities as he kept Yale to just 2 goals, something no other Terrier
goalie was able to do until 8 January 1949, when Ralph Bevins, Dick
Bradley and Larry Beecher combined to hold Yale to two goals in a 7-2
Terrier win, a stretch of twenty games.  In the final game of the
season only the sensational work of Martin kept BC from scoring more
goals, as he made 25 saves, including many spectacular ones.  For the
season, Don Martin was the goalie of record for all 12 games, as he
backstopped the Terriers to their first winning season, 7-4-1.

The 1925-26 season began with sophomore Don Martin battling
freshman Sydney Silberberg for the starting goalie job.  Martin
won the job and started 5 of the first six games, but he was
relieved in several of them by Silberberg.  Included in this string of
games was the Terriers’ first win against Harvard in any sport, a 3-0
shutout of the Crimson.  Martin also shutout Cornell on Beebe Lake at
Ithaca, 1-0, becoming the first Terrier goalie to do so and he was
also the first to win two games against them.  However, after
returning from the road trip to New York Syd Silberberg became the
starting goalie for the rest of the season.  In his short
season-and-a-half Terrier career Don Martin was 11- 7-1, with
3-and-a-half shutouts (he shared one with Syd Silberberg).

Although Martin left the hockey team after his sophomore year,
he continued to represent Boston University on the athletic field of
play.  He was a member of the tennis team all four of his years at BU,
and was a three-year captain (1926, 27 and 28).  The tennis team’s
record his four years was a combined 18-11-3 and 16-6-2 with him as
captain.  Furthermore, Martin continued his winning ways against
Boston College, as the Terriers were 3-0 versus the Eagles while he
was captain.

Copyright 2002 by Sean Pickett

Sean Pickett            E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Go Terriers             Beanpot Champions