PHOTO COURTESY FLORIDA PANTHERS X
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Hunter St. Martin has returned from Florida Panthers training camp and two points in two NHL preseason games with the goal of carrying the championship pedigree to Medicine Hat.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
After returning from the defending Stanley Cup Champions’ training camp, Hunter St. Martin looks to bring the high-level expectations to Medicine Hat.
The 19-year-old Tigers froward was returned to Medicine Hat after an extended stay with the Florida Panthers, the NHL club who selected him 193rd overall in the 2024 NHL Draft.
St. Martin was invited to the club’s rookie camp in August and worked his way into a main camp invite before appearing in two preseason games, recording a goal and an assist on a game winning goal in overtime.
“It’s the preseason but you’re playing in front of, I didn’t realize, like 15,000 fans there and it’s really cool,” St. Martin said. “Just getting the opportunity and scoring, and then getting that shot in OT, it was just fun. “I realized obviously you have to run your routes and do all the pro habits, but also to go out there and have fun, you play hockey and that’s the fun of it all.
“It was a really fun, really great experience. Now it puts a taste in your mouth of what I need to do and that’s just keep building, keep getting better.”
The Edmonton product enjoyed his experience alongside NHLers like Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov and the rest of the Panthers’ veterans, gaining more confidence in his game while picking up some of their championship habits.
St. Martin also picked up some lessons from Florida head coach Paul Maurice, who passed on some tidbits about being a leader in Medicine Hat.
“How close those guys are in that room in Florida, they are running the team. It’s not the coach telling them what to do, what pace, or what they want to do out on the ice,” St. Martin said. “It’s those guys. They’re pushing, they’re working out after practice, they’re running the team basically. That’s what I can bring back here. Individually, I want to keep building on my habits and getting better every day, because you have to grow in all aspects.”
Maurice spoke highly of St. Martin throughout his preseason appearances, commending his skating ability after the Panthers’ 5-4 overtime win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Sept. 28.
“I’m very impressed with Hunter St. Martin, at a young age he handled it,” Maurice told Florida media. “He still had speed after practice with the big lads and we had some pretty good skates in there and he was still able to find some speed after the game.”
Tigers’ coaches watched along as St. Martin put on a show in Florida. Associate coach Joe Frazer says they’ve missed him in the lineup but he says they’re just as excited for what he will bring from the experience.
“He brings such a speed element to our team and that’s what we need,” Frazer said. “It’s great to have him back in the lineup. He had a heck of a camp, it’s awesome to see how well he did up there. And just bringing that experience back, what he learned is so important to be allowed that experience and then share it with our guys so we can continue to build because that’s our goal, to get everyone a contract.”
St. Martin returns with a little more of a tan than his teammates, getting used to the Florida humidity after three weeks in the sun. He also returns with the same desire to be his best for the Tigers, a personal fire that only burns brighter.
“I have to be the best player every day, night in, night out, for us to win and it’s the same with every guy in that room,” St. Martin said. “No matter how much talent we have or whatever everyone’s saying about us, it doesn’t matter. We have to show up every single night because we’re going to get the best out of every team. So just building on that night in, night out, bringing the best that we can be. That’s the biggest thing, with our habits and with our structure.”
