Martin Tetsuya Kariya (born October 5, 1981) is a Canadian former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He is the youngest brother of former NHL players

Paul Kariya Paul Tetsuhiko Kariya (born October 16, 1974) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey winger who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). Known as a skilled and fast-skating offensive player, he played in the NHL for the Might ...

and

Steve Kariya Steven Tetsuo Kariya (born December 22, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey winger and younger brother of former National Hockey League player Paul Kariya. Kariya was born in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Playing career Afte ...

Playing career

Amateur

Kariya had a standout NCAA college hockey career at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...

from 1999 to 2003 while earning a degree in Mathematics. During his four years at the University of Maine, the team made 2

Frozen Four The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...

appearances. In Martin's junior college season the Black Bears reached the 2001–02

NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship ''NCAA men's ice hockey championship'' refers to either of the two tournaments in men's ice hockey – one in Division I and one in Division III – contested by the National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athlet ...

final game where they suffered a disappointing 4-3 OT loss to the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. Martin was the captain of the team in his senior year and was also the top scorer with 50 points in 39 games. Martin was awarded the

Len Ceglarski Leonard Stanley Ceglarski (June 27, 1926 – December 16, 2017) was an American ice hockey player and coach. He was an All-American left wing on Boston College's 1949 NCAA championship team, and was captain of the 1950–51 squad. He was also a ...

Sportsmanship Award and named to

Hockey East The Hockey East Association, also known as Hockey East, is a college ice hockey conference which operates entirely in New England. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for ...

First All-Star Team. He finished his Black Bear career 11th in all-time scoring with 155 points and was subsequently named in Maine's All Decade Team.

Professional

Kariya's outstanding college hockey career caught the attention of the Portland Pirates of the AHL, who offered him a contract to join their team for the 2002–03 playoffs. On July 22, 2003, Martin then signed with the

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ( ...

affiliate, the

Bridgeport Sound Tigers The Bridgeport Islanders (previously known as the Bridgeport Sound Tigers) are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League (AHL). They are the AHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's New York Islanders, who own the f ...

for the 2003–04 season. The 2004

NHL Lockout The NHL lockout may refer to any of the four labour actions in the history of the National Hockey League: * The 1992 NHL strike, which postponed 30 games of the 1991–92 season * The 1994–95 NHL lockout, which cancelled many of the games of ...

was a bump in the road for Kariya. Rather than waiting for the NHL season to resume, Martin headed to Japan to play for the Nikko IceBucks in the Asian Hockey League where he was a favorite with Japanese hockey fans. Next he played in Fredrikstad Norway for Stjernen HC and recorded 52 points in 39 games. This caught the attention of hockey scouts from Europe's top leagues and led to Martin signing with the

Espoo Blues The Espoo Blues were an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They played in Espoo, Finland, at the Espoo Metro Areena. The club went bankrupt at the end of the 2015–16 Liiga season. History The club was established in February 1984 as Kiekko-Espoo ...

of the

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

for the 2006-2007 season. Martin's speed and skill helped him to dominate the Finnish league. He was the top scorer with 61 points in 51 games and was considered the best forward in the league that season. After his great success in Europe, Martin signed his first NHL contract with the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...

on June 1, 2007, for the following 2007–08 season. On October 1, 2007, Kariya was among the final cuts as he was assigned to affiliate, the

Peoria Rivermen Peoria Rivermen is the name of four minor league hockey clubs: *Peoria Rivermen (IHL), named as such 1984–1996, formerly the Peoria Prancers 1982–1984 *Peoria Rivermen (ECHL), 1996–2005 *Peoria Rivermen (AHL), 2005–2013 *Peoria Rivermen (SP ...

. Kariya enjoyed his most successful season in the AHL recording 53 points in 71 games. For the 2008–09 season he returned to Europe to play in the lucrative

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

League where he finished 5th in the league's scoring standings and was a key player for the

SCL Tigers SC Langnau Tigers are a professional ice hockey team from Langnau im Emmental, Switzerland. They play in the National League (NL). The team plays its home games in the 6,000-seat Ilfis Stadium, which is currently one of the smallest arenas in the N ...

. On July 15, 2009, Kariya signed with the Dinamo Riga of the

KHL The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs b ...

. In the 2009–10 season, Martin established himself as an integral part of Riga's offense scoring 22 points in 38 games. Kariya was limited to 38 games after suffering a well publicized concussion in which the KHL was criticized over the immediate medical protocol to his condition. Upon his return, Kariya helped Riga past the first round in the playoffs, leading the KHL with 5 points in 4 games against

SKA St. Petersburg The Hockey Club SKA (russian: Спортивный клуб СКА), often referred to as SKA Saint Petersburg and literally as the Sports Club of the Army, is a Russian professional ice hockey club based in Saint Petersburg. They are members o ...

after the first round. On May 3, 2010, Kariya returned to the NLA, signing a two-year contract with HC Ambri-Piotta.

International play

Kariya has had several opportunities to represent Canada in international ice hockey competition. These include the 2005 Loto Cup, the 2005

Spengler Cup The Spengler Cup is an annual invitational ice hockey tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. First held in 1923, the Spengler Cup is often cited as the oldest invitational ice hockey tournament in the world. The event is hosted by the Swiss tea ...

, the 2006 Deutschland Cup, the 2008

and the 2010

Awards and honors

*2002–03 HE

Sportsmanship Award *2006–07

SM-Liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

Veli-Pekka Ketola trophy The Veli-Pekka Ketola trophy () is a Finnish ice hockey trophy awarded by the Liiga to the player who scores the most points during regular season play. It was first awarded to Henry Saleva of Kärpät in the 1977–78 SM-liiga season. The tro ...

Career statistics

Personal

Martin is the younger brother of Steve, Noriko, and

. He is of Japanese and Scottish descent.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kariya, Martin 1981 births Living people Bridgeport Sound Tigers players Canadian ice hockey forwards Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian sportspeople of Japanese descent Dinamo Riga players Espoo Blues players HC Ambrì-Piotta players Maine Black Bears men's ice hockey players Nikkō Ice Bucks players Peoria Rivermen (AHL) players Portland Pirates players Ice hockey people from Vancouver Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Latvia Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Finland Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland