'Really special' - Devils celebrate GOAT Martin

"It's difficult to describe the impact Joey Martin has had on this organisation on and off the ice."

For managing director Todd Kelman, Cardiff Devils' number 88 is, "our best player over the last decade".

For most fans, forward Martin is simply the GOAT - the greatest of all time.

On Saturday (17:00 BST) at the Vindico Arena, the 36-year-old from Ontario joins a select group of players the club has honoured in recent seasons; Great Britain internationals Mark Richardson, Matthew Myers, Josh Batch and Ben Davies.

Martin is the first non-British player to be awarded a testimonial game in the past eleven years of the current ownership.

"I'm extremely grateful, it's really special, it's made me reflect on all the years I've been here," said Martin.

"I always feel very fortunate that I landed at this club and have so many great memories that I can look back on."

Martin first joined the Devils in 2014 and after a brief spell away during Covid returned in 2022.

In his first five-season spell with Cardiff, he won the league's Forward of the Year three times, Player of the Year twice and made the league's All-Star team every year.

In the 2024-25 season - his ninth at the Welsh club - he became the highest scoring import player in Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) history and was Devils' Players' Player of the Year.

"As the league has improved, he has still always been one of the top players," added Kelman on announcing Martin would be back for a 10th campaign in a Devils jersey. "We are very lucky to have had him all these years."

'My love for the game started in the driveway'

In 2007 Joey Martin scored 30 regular season goals with 37 assists, adding 31 more points in the play-offs with championship winning Aurora Tigers

Martin was born and bred in the small city of Thorold, ten miles west of Niagara Falls on the United States border.

"Like most Canadian kids my love for the game started in the driveway and the street playing with my brothers and friends and then in the winters on the frozen lakes and ponds," recalls Martin.

He started his junior hockey with local club Thorold Blackhawks, then as a teenager he joined Aurora Tigers in the Ontario Provincial Junior Hockey League, winning the 2007 Canadian National Junior Championship, the Royal Bank Cup.

College hockey followed whilst studying physical education at the University of Nebraska in Omaha, sometimes in front of 17,000 fans.

And after captaining Omaha Mavericks in his final student season, in 2011 Martin went professional with Ohio-based Toledo Walleye.

"Going from school to the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) was a bit of an adjustment. Sometimes you play four games in five nights, a lot of road trips on the bus, it's a bit of a grind," added Martin.

The ECHL sits third in the North America hierarchy, below the American Hockey League (AHL) and the dream destination for all hockey players, the globally-dominant NHL.

"I had a few different call ups [to the AHL] with Houston Aeros, Texas Stars and Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

"After three years of that, getting called up and sent down, I was over that whole lifestyle and that's why I ended up pursuing options over here [in the UK]."

'I thought, oh no!'

Cardiff Devils spent 10 years playing at their 'temporary' Big Blue Tent before moving to the brand new Ice Arena Wales in 2016

In late July 2014 Martin received a call from an old Toledo teammate, Doug Clarkson, who had signed for a British club under new ownership – the Cardiff Devils. They were looking for a centre-mid forward and wanted to know if Martin was interested.

At the time Martin knew very little about professional hockey in the UK.

"I thought that people generally came here and did their master's degree at the end of their career," he remembers.

"I knew it was more of a North American style, it was physical, they had enforcers, so I thought it'd be similar to the East Coast Hockey League but other than that I wasn't familiar with Cardiff, the club or the history.

"I kind of made a quick decision and I'm very happy with that decision now!"

Martin also had no idea that his new hockey home, Devils' ice rink, was just a timber prefab, clad with bright blue tarpaulin.

"I remember coming on the bus and seeing this big, beautiful glass building and I said, 'Wow! That's a beautiful arena.' And they said, 'No, that's the international swimming pool, the arena's round the corner'.

"And then we kept driving and I saw the Big Blue Tent and I thought, 'Oh, no!'

"But we had a team that just embraced it, we actually loved playing in the tent. It was a hostile environment for other teams, it was definitely an advantage for us."

In his first six seasons as a Devil, Joey Martin led the team to two Challenge Cups, two League titles and two Play-Off Championships.

That first season for Martin saw the Devils unexpectedly reach the Challenge Cup Final, where they faced the sizeable challenge of taking on Sheffield Steelers in their own Sheffield Arena.

There was, though, a huge migration of Welsh fans from Cardiff, one that lives long in the memories of those that were there.

"I remember stepping on the ice for the warm-up and seeing half that arena filled with our fans. I remember thinking this is pretty special," said Martin.

"That's when you really saw how much it meant to the club, to the fans."

Goals from player-coach Andrew Lord and centreman Chris Culligan gave Cardiff a 2-1 victory to lift their first trophy in eight years.

"Winning that game was awesome, just to see the look on everybody's faces and the joy especially with the season before being a tough one when they hadn't made the play-offs," Martin added.

"The expectations weren't for us to even be there, let alone win it. It was a really special moment."

Over the next four seasons Cardiff Devils experienced a golden period winning the league twice, the 2017 Challenge Cup and two Play-Off finals.

When hockey in the UK was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Martin went to Norway, playing in front of reduced crowds for Stavanger Oilers though eventually their 2021 season was curtailed before the Elite Hockey Ligaen play-offs.

He then joined Graz99ers in Austria who were more than aware of Martin's qualities after he had been a crucial part of Cardiff's two group victories against them in the 2019 Champions Hockey League.

But halfway through the season Martin decided it was time to return to Cardiff.

"I really enjoyed my time in Graz, but I just felt that I wanted to come back to a club where the expectations were to win, and I wanted to be back in that kind of culture.

"And it just felt like the time to come back home."

'It's been an awesome ride - I never want it to end'

Joey Martin was voted Cardiff Devils Most Valuable Player in 2024-25

Somewhat unexpectedly for Martin, the first two seasons after his return were trophyless for Cardiff.

However, in January 2025 the Devils won their first European title - the IIHF Continental Cup.

"That was the third year in a row of us being in that competition and I felt in the years prior we had a good chance to win it but let it slip," Martin said.

"I think we were just laser focused this year and it was a huge deal not just for us players, all the fans and all the people in the organisation."

Following that win the Devils' chase for the league title fell away to finish in fourth place having also lost the Challenge Cup final to Belfast Giants in March.

Martin feels the extra games played competing in the Continental Cup, and the squad being blighted by injuries thoughout the season, caught up with them.

"We were playing three lines it felt like for months, and that's hard to do when you're playing three games a week, back-to-back games on the weekend and injuries keep piling up," he said.

"We held on for as long as we could but it just came to the point where the wheels fell off. It was tough to be a part of.

"We're not the only team that goes through this, but we were hit pretty hard by injuries this year."

It was a campaign so nearly polished off with the shine of a second peice of silverware.

However, in the last act of the season Cardiff lost the Play-Off's Grand Final in double overtime to Nottingham - a tumultuous encounter that will not be forgotten soon by Panthers fans and neutrals who witnessed the game.

But for Martin and his Devils team-mates losing that epic final, where they came back from 3-0 down to force overtime, will simply rankle forever.

"We were stunned for a few days to be honest, it's still hard to reflect on because we were so close to winning a trophy that I think this group deserved," reflects Martin.

"I think losing that Play-Off final ignited something in me that I just wanted to sign back to get another chance to win another trophy.

"I'm very proud of what we've done here over the years, a lot of success, a lot of good times, a lot of hard work, but I feel that we're not done yet.

"We need to have some more trophies; we need to create some more memories and hopefully we can do that.

"If you look at where the game has taken me, I feel fortunate, it's been an awesome ride. I never want it to end."