Vladimír Martinec
a) Defense.
Not too long ago there wasn´t any knowledge about Martinec´ sound defensive play but some of us have been able to read the contemporary materials and find considerable evidence. Chronologically:
Gól magazine, post-WHC 1970, Martinec´s player description and evaluation:
"As a rookie of the team, he signaled that it´s possible to count on him in the National team. He´s calm enough when finishing offensive actions, also owns good defensive skills. He was injured so his performance had considerable fluctuations."
Nomination for WHC 1971 presented at Gól magazine, Martinec´s player description:
"Technical, creative player with great improvisational abilities and good defensive propensities."
Slovakian Hockey Yearbook 1972:
Finally, the book is closed with short interesting descriptions of members of the winning Czechoslovakian team. Here they are.
(...)
Vladimír Martinec. He is one of our most wittiest hockey players. By two assists on goals he contributed a great deal to the victory over USSR. He attacks and defends very well, has an intuition for the game, he is a constructive player. If he gains better conditioning and experience yet, he can become the backbone of CSSR team.
Early 1973, a prominent hockey columnist of the era and former National Team player, Miloslav Charouzd calls Martinec esentially one of the three best defensive forwards in the CSSR League. This is the biggest appreaciation of Martinec´s defensive efforts that can be possibly found. It´s also impressive because the article was written during the time when Martinec was on his way to win the League scoring and League title for this season. The key paragraph is bolded by me. I also decided to post or quote the entire article given its importance.
I´ll start with Miloslav Charouzd´s overview of basic types of forwards that you could mostly find in the League at the time, some descriptions may be interesting or useful to know. The first article bears the title: DOES THE IDEAL TYPE OF FORWARD EXIST?
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“Just as every sporting collective game, hockey is also based not only on mutual cooperation of individuals but also on balance of different lines – of forwards and defensemen. That is why today, strictly one-way type of forward or defenseman is almost an extinct species. More and more a player is sought – the one who meets these tasks [offense and defense]
according to team´s conception of the game. There are multiple ways to look at a hockey player. Technical and physical fundamentals are of course taken into account, but moreover a player´s age, nature, personal and moral qualities and all this is necessary to combine in order for a player to be advantageous to his team at all of its aspects. At least in the hint, let´s have a look at some of the most important evaluating factors of a forward, as one member of a hockey team.
The same uniform does not mean the uniformity of forwards. Should the forward line fulfill all of its duties, it has to have a constructive player setting up the pace, he could be named as a sort of on-ice thinker. Next forward must be the type of a shooter and both should be complemented by forward who has constantly on his mind an opportunity of effective defense. Representative of a constructive player who gives a pattern to the offensive game, who develops playing situations, who can release himself and his teammates – is without a doubt, Jaroslav Holík. He has excellent stickhandling technique, he does not avoid physical encounters, while he still maintains the view over the situation in the game and at the same time he´s being an important contributor and director of an active defense of the team. For this type of forward, it is typical having a much larger number of passes on goal than the actual realizations of goals by himself, which is also apparent on [players such as]
Farda or Jiří Novák from Pardubice and Otte from Plzeň.
Forward–shooter should have primarily an innate sense for goal-scoring opportunities, sufficient self-confidence associated with a certain amount of aggressiveness and above all, he should never avoid responsibility of finishing offensive actions. From all of our top teams, Tesla Pardubice is the best of them at these accounts. Four shooters – Šťastný, Martinec, Paleček and Prýl – make each of Pardubice´s offensive lines extremely dangerous. Klapáč and Nový fulfills this function of distinctive finishing players in Dukla Jihlava, Slovan Bratislava relies on Haas in this regard, and Pouzar plays a similar role in Motor Č. Budějovice, and Eduard Novák with Nedvěd in Kladno.
‚Defender‘ is usually a good skater, as he covers comparatively large space in offensive and defensive zones. The player is usually well-built physically, has an advantage in continuous control of the puck, at the same time he acts as an ‚forward-playing antenna‘ of active defense of the team. Outstanding representatives of this type of forward – Jiří Holík and Martinec – have almost even ratio of goals scored and assists and their collective and responsible style of play for the team needs to be highly appreaciated. Ševčík can calmly be measured with these players when it comes to work in defense. However today, we have started to require big effort, immediate counter-attacking skills even from a player securing defense in order for him to get into the scoring areas by himself or to selflessly create the shooting positions for his teammates.
Peaceful ones are the base – hotheaded ones are the spark. Do all the skillful types of forwards fit together temperamentally too? Could there play next to each other temperamentally the same players, such as for example Jaroslav Holík and Golonka? Every coach would probably suffer from a headache soon from this duo! But even these hotheads are needed for the team to a certain extent. No need to remind very much, just how much excitement prevailed or still prevails on the ice, when Golonka, Huck, Sterner or Esposito stepped in. What a constant source of tension are these heated characters. They all usually have a notable amount of playing ‚insolence‘, they do not suffer in no matter how important games they´re playing from a feeling of overly excessive commitments and they play without any hindrance, regardless of an opponent´s level of play.
Although necessarily, a calm stable player who doesn´t get irritated, must be next to them [i. e. next to ‚hotheads‘]
. You can read these traits of the game of Klapáč, Brunclík or Paleček, players who easily adjust, submit and do not look for a conflict, rather look to avoid heated situations on ice.
Old and young. The eternal problem of the circle of life projects itself into the hockey team too. The inevitable exchange of players should be proceeding naturally, continuously, without deep swingings in performance of the team. Young players mean undeniably a certain part of unrest and excitement in the team. They are ambitious, they want to excel. Perhaps that´s why they´re more subjected to influence of the environment and their performances are imbalanced. I have seen indisputably gifted forwards Nový, Pouzar, Čížek, [Marián]
Šťastný from Slovan playing outstanding games, only so that then immediately after they fail to play up to even the league average level. I believe that a good team should have in its core both hockey ‚rookies‘, as well as players around 30, whereas the ‚golden‘ hockey age is within the range of 24 – 26 years. The best in this regard are undoubtedly Tesla Pardubice and Dukla Jihlava where older players such as Prýl, Andrt, Klapáč and even Holíks with their routine and experience lead younger teammates – Veith, Čížek, Nový, Beránek, while the core of the team is made by the players from the ‚golden‘ middle age.
The team, in which the one generation of players has sustained itself for a long time – like the case of ZKL Brno – plays stereotypically over time, no new stimulus comes into their game and performance of the team has to stagnate. I don´t want to claim by this that a young player has to play at whatever cost. Firsov and Gordie Howe were great even after their 30, and for instance Maltsev, Tumba Johansson or Bobby Orr on the other hand were great already at 18 years. Decisive factor always has to be performance not an age of a player!
As we can see, the ideal type of forward or forward line, considering all the viewpoints, cannot even exist! To grab a certain type of player useful for the team is the big craft of a coach. Although often times even here, it is a necessary to deal with some compromise. Character of player cannot be restricted or suppressed, but to streamline and make of perfect use of his features to the one goal – success of the collective.“
WHC 1975 in West Germany:
(...)
'He was a bad shooter <at first>, but when he got stronger for some reason, he became a national team player. He has a good hockey sense, and he always plays for the benefit of the team. The most important thing is that Martinec's work capacity is unbelievable - even a simpleton can see that he is always able to carry the puck over the blue line, but his defensive contribution is never understood,' said a journalist from Pardubice in Düsseldorf**.
Martinec is all <of these things>: when they started to give the Golden Stick (for the player of the year) in Czechoslovakia, the rules were made to favour defencemen... for four years, goal-scoring defencemen were preeminent - then came Martinec. (...)
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b) Penalty killing.
Batis has already posted on this matter in this thread. I´ll just add one new quote here specifically mentioning quality PKing of Martinec. A short excerpt from
Československý sport game report on 27 April 1973, League play-off semifinals, 5th game of the Tesla Pardubice vs. Slovan Bratislava series:
"The powerplay was not played well by Pardubicians but when they were shorthanded, it was a pleasure to watch Martinec-Šťastný duo how they managed to boil and disrupt a powerplay of the opponent."
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c) Information about physical play.
Gól magazine, January 1970. I assume following quote comes directly from CSSR head coach Jaroslav Pitner but I can´t guarantee it 100%, so if it was not Pitner, it was a regular
Gól writer. This comes from Martinec´s first international season when he was 19/20:
"New season began with some new rules. The most important one was the possibility to bodycheck through the whole rink. Thus the game has simplified and considerably gained on toughness at the same time. The new way of game has brought certain difficulties to the players of technical type, who have been avoiding physical play until now. That´s why it was necessary to realize this change and to establish the principle right from the beginning: to choose only fearless players for the National Team, who do not shy away from physical encounters. The more so it was needed, since the WHC was supposed to be played in Canada on smaller rinks, where physical battles happen more easily. An initial league games look-around showed us such warriors, especially from the ranks of young ones. And so the first National Team opportunity was given to Pardubician line Martinec, Novák, Šťastný, Bratislavian players Haas and Ujváry, Litvínov´s Hlinka."
*probably from WHC 1971:
(...) The size does not ever tell the whole truth: in Bern*, Vladimir Martinec lifted the big Ragulin up in the air without any trouble and slammed him onto the ice!
Martinec was the prototype <player> of a new kind of 'straightforward' hockey; a skilled and a persistent little man, whose <skating> lanes and trails always led to one direction - towards the goal.
Československý sport, 13 April 1972, writer and former National Team goalie Josef Mikoláš after the first CSSR-USSR game (3:3) of the 1972 WHC:
"There have been already many hockey players dressing National Team uniform that came from the Eastern Bohemian city of gingerbread and Tesla factory products. Names of goaltenders Nadrchal, Dvořáček, Lacký, skaters Dolana, Prýl, Franc were and remain well-known capacities in the Czechoslovak hockey. Now two forwards from the new Pardubician generation have earned a National Team jersey: Vladimír Martinec and Bohuslav Šťastný, playing together in the club and in the National Team as well. They are very much alike by their stature and even by their style of play and people often confuse them. They´ve been playing together for five league seasons.
(...)
Somebody said about Vladimír Martinec that he works like a bee on the ice. I think it can be calmly spoken about Šťastný-Martinec pair as a duo of Pardubician bees. They´re both fast, technically matured, and despite the fact that they don´t quite possess a hockey statures, feelings of fear or worries from an opponent are completely foreign to them."
Horymír Sekera, coach of Tesla Pardubice, December 1972, after his team was leading the League mid-season, said for Československý sport about Martinec:
"He is currently our player number one. He came to us literally from the pond from where he brought, besides talent, healthy ambitions and tenacity to catch up everything. He managed to learn everything. Not only he perfectly handles the stick and he´s fast, but he can fight in front of his own and opponent´s net - he just does it all."
Now one of the bigger ones, in my opinion.
A Russian writer favourably compared Martinec to Mikhailov during the WHC 1974 with regards to willingness of getting one´s own nose dirty around the net, key part bolded by me:
Československý sport, April 1974, before the 2nd match-up of CSSR vs. USSR, interview with Vyacheslav Gavrilin, writer for “Krasivaya Zvezda” (Moscow).
Question: „To which Czechoslovak player would you grant the maximal attention?“
Vyacheslav Gavrilin: „The most dangerous player of the Czechoslovak team is Vladimír Martinec. Two days ago, I spoke with Firsov and Loktev over the phone, they watch the games on television, if broadcasted. They believe that Martinec is the best non-soviet player and if he´s going to play in such form till the rest of the Championship he should appear in the All-Star team. Martinec´s advantage lies in speed, agility and technique. Loktev added that in the 1966 forward line Loktev-Almetov-Alexandrov, Martinec would excel. It is well known that this trio earned respect in the whole hockey world and that´s why Loktev´s words are such high appraisal of Martinec´s game. This player is simultaneously also one of the few in CSSR team who is not afraid to fight in the space around the net. He reminds of our Michailov in this. Although he [Martinec] is not a center, he´s more courageous in physical battles than most centers.“
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d) A pushback and weaknesses.
That´s quite a lot positive vibe about Martinec all-round style of play, but even I don´t myself believe that Martinec was in fact one of the best two-way players of all-time or any sort of historically meaningful physical player. There was a lot of intagibles not appearing on the scoresheet that Martinec provided, but it is important to admit that there is virtually nothing about his two-way play and/or physical play mentioned in various books or internet articles written ex-post after his retirement. I don´t remember reading anything of this sort in some of Karel Gut´s books and Gut (=CSSR head coach between 1974-1980) certainly had a lot of positive things to say about Martinec. I will post some of this later stuff about Martinec in following section of this post to demonstrate a different aspect but you can see precisely what I´m saying here. All in all, Martinec all-round play probably wasn´t transcendent enough to remain in the history books written after the fact, but it is crystal clear that there was more to his game than just scoring points and that he also "punched above his weight" when it comes to physical side of hockey, board battles, net presence etc.
One more example, the
Slovakian Hockey Yearbook 1979, when Martinec just won his fourth Golden Stick, obviously praised him a lot but still had nothing to say about his two-way play and suggested Martinec is a brilliant technical high hockey IQ player who would be more suited to less physical era of hockey than the one he had played in. Key paragraph of Martinec´s profile written in the yearbook is following:
„Martinec is a type of player from ‚ballet‘ era of hockey when the prohibition to touch an opponent throughout the rink was yet in place. Elegant skater knows though, that he can´t complain about ill fortune, although he was not gifted with big physical strength. He is gifted with dexterity, acumen, intelligence so he knows how to assert himself even in contemporary physical hockey. [Martinec:] ‚I adjusted, though I know that future does not promise anything pleasant to the type that´s me. Nevertheless I still try [to play] the game above all else and even to smile in the heat of the game from time to time. While a spectator maybe thinks that I don´t care about anything, that´s not true. I need to get loose so I can play more relaxed.‘“
An interview with Martinec in Československý sport, April 1975, published at the time of ongoing World Championship in Munich and Düsseldorf, reveals one of his Martinec´s admitted weaknesses, physical conditioning. He also complaints about his shooting, height and weight.. I don´t personally think his general goal-scoring abilities were NOT in any way excellent during his prime in the 1970s.
Writer: „What shortcomings do you think you still have?“
Vladimír Martinec: „Many. Primarily physical conditioning. Even though I train a lot, it is still not what is needed to be. However, my biggest insufficiency is shooting, I realize that practically in every game. And that is the reason why I am not satisfied with what I´ve been playing so far. Because a good hockey player has to be above all a good shooter.“
Writer: „You are talking about physical conditioning. Do you think you still have this shortcoming because you would anyhow train less than what is needed, or is it connected to your medium height? If you measured 1.90 m and weighed 90 kg, you´d surely have different options?
Vladimír Martinec: „I don´t need to consider that height and weight, I simply grew up the way I did and nothing can be done about it now. Those tall players conversely don´t have the required finesse so it all balances out somehow in the end. When it comes to training though, I could definitely train even more. But a season lasts for 10 months, when I count to the league games some of those tournament games and then games with the National team, in sum it´s close to 100 games, sometimes even more. That´s why it´s necessary to take a rest too, otherwise a man would likely not sustain this heavy workload…“
More suggestions about the issue of physical conditioning (or lack thereof):
I have never thought of that before, or perceived Martinec as being particularly strong, but maybe he was stronger than one would think. Martinec himself (in his autobiography) said that he hated the physical training, but he also pointed out that the national team coaches Gut and Starsi really drilled their players hard in the physical department. I agree with you by the way that Martinec is a top 20 guy.
Slovakian Hockey Yearbook 1972:
(...)
Vladimír Martinec. He is one of our most wittiest hockey players. By two assists on goals he contributed a great deal to the victory over USSR. He attacks and defends very well, has an intuition for the game, he is a constructive player. If he gains better conditioning and experience yet, he can become the backbone of CSSR team.
For what is worth, Martinec was also one of the noted smokers on the 1970s CSSR teams...
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e) Post-career recognition, star power, Soviets...
It was brought up by me in this thread earlier that Martinec tends to be regarded as the best player of this 'Golden era' of Czechoslovak hockey (generally 1968-1978 timeframe). I would like to underline why that was the case. I mean, Martinec recorded more points in international games than any other post-war Czech or Slovak player, he also had stellar All-Star voting record, better Golden Stick voting record than anyone besides Hasek and Jagr.. Yes, that´s all there, but there is more to his appreciation than that. Three quotes pointing this out (key parts bolded by me):
First,
Karel Gut (CSSR coach, 1974-80), Malá encyklopedie ledního hokeje, published in 1985. Vladimír Martinec´s description, p. 242:
"He [Martinec]
played in the unforgettable line of Martinec - J. Novák - B. Šťastný in Tesla Pardubice (one of the greatest forward lines of its time in the world). (...)
One of the greatest characters of Czechoslovak hockey. He not only represented but also generalized the Czechoslovak hockey school with his conception of hockey, mostly through creative, variable and surprisingly modifying game. He excelled with wit, with extraordinary sense for a pass, but also with just as good shooting. Outstanding stick-handling technique and imaginative thinking was enhanced by large improvisational abilities."
Second,
1998 Best Czech Hockey Player of the Century,
Martinec´s short profile written by Mladá fronta (source):
"Vladimír Martinec lost a big fight for third place with 'Vovka' Zábrodský ultimately only by five points. He´s the first player from the legendary era of the 1970s in the poll. 'A prototype, molded from the best traditions of Czech hockey,' Mladá fronta wrote about him many years ago.
He was no big-shoulder fighter. He gathered points thanks to his attractive game, witty and creative style, excellent skating. A highlight from 1977 Championship in Vienna belongs to one his unforgettable actions, where in the tight game with the Swedes, he assisted to goal by a high forward pass above the heads of defensemen from own blueline up into offensive zone.
He was gifted by an art of improvisation from the sky. Goalies never knew what he´s going to do - a deke, a wrist shot? Jiří Holeček tells: 'I once asked him how does he do all that. He shrugged the shoulders and said he doesn´t know. He was just doing that subconsciously, not even knowing how.'
A smile always belonged to Martinec: it wasn´t any kind of expression of gleefulness or railing, but of a good mood, comfort and pleasure from the game."
Third,
an article from 2009, Source:
"Right wing Vladimír Martinec spent almost his whole career - save for half a year in Dukla Jihlava in 1978/79 and four years in German Kaufbeuren at the beginning of the 80s - in Pardubice. He was beloved by local fans due to his well-honed talent in finishing, quick wits and improvisation; and together with Jiří Novák and Bohuslav Šťastný he was a part of then very popular line, which helped Pardubice to win the league title in 1973. He stayed loyal to the East-Bohemian town, now he coaches juniors there. He's still active in hockey.
Martinec belonged among the leaders of the famous Czechoslovak generation which was the only team that could match the Red Machine in the 70s, and even managed to dethrone them thrice (1972, 1976 & 1977). The right winger was always part of it and in Katowice in 1976 he was also named the best forward of the tournament.
What made the icon of Tesla Pardubice an elite world-class player were especially his skilled hands, creativity, wits and the gift of improvisation. Thanks to those attributes and his hockey sense he used to be named as the classical exemplar of Czechoslovak hockey school by the experts in his time. And the fans worshiped him."
Fourth, Joe Pelletier,
Source:
"Vladimir Martinec was one of the smartest and most technically skilled European player ever. It is doubtful if there has ever been any player in Europe as eager to improvise as Martinec. He was extremely creative with the puck and drove his opponents crazy.
Few players were treated more brutally than Martinec. This small (5'9" and 178 Ibs) right wing somehow always seemed to bounce back totally undisturbed and more often than not with a smile on his face. His constant smile was a sort of a trademark and frustrated his opponents even more. A lot of reporters used to ask him why he always was smiling, even after a vicious crosscheck in the back. He said that he did it because he enjoyed the game so much and always had fun.
It was evident that he loved the game as he always did something extra with the puck that left the fans absolutely stunned. Martinec was known as 'The Fox' for his cleverness around the net as he simply outsmarted his opponents."
Bolded sentence refers to Martinec specifically being targeted by the Soviets outside the limits rules of the game. For example:
From an
interview with Gennady Tsygankov in the
St. Petersburg Times back in 2000:
Andrey Musatov: "Could you tell me anything about the famous eight-game 1972 Summit Series that the USSR lost to Canada?"
Tsygankov: "It was a historical set of games. To this day they are being talked about, not just in Russia, but in Canada too. They were the best spectator games in history. Canadians thought of themselves as the originators of hockey, and of us as amateurs. Soviet hockey was generally regarded as amateur. There was much talk on how we would play, and whether we would play at all. The games gave a boost to Soviet hockey and Canadian hockey alike. Canadians were shocked by the accuracy of our passes, and how we could get around three players, like [forward Valery] Kharlamov could, and by our team game and speed."
Mustasov: "Is there anyone in particular from an opposing team that stands out as someone that you needed to look out for?"
Tsygankov: "There were different situations in every game. For example, in 1974, we played against Czechoslovakia, with [right-wing Vladimir] Martinec, who made things very difficult for us. The trainer said that we would have to "neutralize" him during the game - so I volunteered. In the middle of the first period, I made use of a forceful maneuver. Unfortunately, he had a bad fall and started bleeding. The umpire Josef Kampola [sic!] sent me off for five minutes. After Martinec had fallen, the Czech team lost their morale and we won the game."
The game Tsygankov is referring to was the second USSR vs ČSSR game at the 1974 WHC which the Soviets won 3-1. (The Czechoslovaks had won the first game 7-2.)
And more to it, from Finnish sources:
"Martinec's significance in a game is demonstrated <by the fact> that every time the Soviets have had difficulties with Czechoslovakia, Vladimir has been the man who has been taken out first: in Moscow 1973, Vasiliev hit him in the neck with his stick and Martinec was carried off the ice on a stretcher; in Helsinki 1974, Gennady Tsygankov cross-checked Martinec in the face; in the 1975 Izvestia tournament, Petrov butt-ended Martinec in the mouth.
After that Jan Starsi had had enough <and> he snapped: 'The Soviets always talk about how cleanly they play compared to the professionals. But I would just like to know why Martinec always ends up in a hospital, when CSSR is leading a game <versus the Soviets>.'"
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f) Videoshowcase.
A well done videopresentation of Martinec´ style of play if you are looking for a visual evidence:
about Martinec
I have no specific interest to 'sell' Martinec here (he's a consensus choice for top 20, right??), but since he is my favourite player, I have naturally followed him somewhat more closely than many other players. One exceptional skill I have noticed was his ability to steal pucks. Some proof:
1972 World Championships, vs. USSR, Martinec steals the puck in his own zone and sets up Nedomansky for Czecholovakia’s first goal
1976 Olympics, vs. USSR, Martinec steals the puck from Viktor Shalimov and makes a play
1976 Canada Cup, vs. USSR, Martinec steals the puck from Skvortsov and passes it to Novak (don’t listen to the commentary, it’s totally out of sync = irritating!)
1976 Canada Cup, vs. Canada (RR)
- during Canada’s PP, Martinec strips Bill Barber of the puck and clears
- Lapointe mishandles the puck, and Martinec smells blood quickly & gets a great scoring chance
1976 Canada Cup, vs. Canada (final, G1), Martinec just takes the puck from Savard
1976 Canada Cup, vs. Canada (final, G2), Martinec steals the puck from Lapointe
1978 World Championships, vs. USSR (final round), Martinec steals the puck during Soviet PP, and has a breakaway (controversy follows)
One thing that I hadn’t paid much attention previously is Martinec’s strength. Only when I saw it mentioned in a Finnish sports book (a mention of Martinec 'manhandling' Ragulin!), I realized that yes, he was a strong player at least for his size, which maybe separated him from e.g. another small 'master technician', Vladimir Vikulov of USSR. Some demonstrations of that:
1976 Canada Cup, vs. USSR
- Martinec bumps Bilyaletdinov off the puck, sets up Bohuslav Stastny for Czechoslovakia’s 4th goal (again, don’t pay attention to the commentary)
- Martinec shows good strength (with the puck) on the boards during Czechoslovakia’s PP (see above about the commentary)
1976 Canada Cup, vs. Canada (RR), Martinec checks Reggie Leach for a good defensive effort
1976 Canada Cup, vs. Canada (final, G2) Martinec strips Bobby Orr of the puck, shows good strength on the boards
