St. Martin family reflects on sporting bloodlines ahead of Memorial Cup final

Hunter St. Martin refused to skate.

The three-year-old stubbornly sat on the ice in a chilly outdoor rink in Edmonton, clutching his first hockey stick tight and trying to make the case that he could be a hockey player without learning to stand up or skate.

Sixteen years later, skating is one of the key features of the Medicine Hat Tigers forward’s blossoming game.

Look no further than Game 4 of the 2025 WHL Championship Series, where the 6-foot-2, 185-pound winger picked off an attempted Spokane Chiefs pass at his own blue line and flew down the wing to cut toward the Chiefs’ net and roof the puck to quell any Spokane momentum and bring the Tigers within a win of lifting the Ed Chynoweth Cup.

A MASSIVE RESPONSE FROM HUNTER ST. MARTIN 🤯@TigersHockey | @FlaPanthers | #WHLChampionship | #FeedingTheFuture pic.twitter.com/dtkRYodXEJ

— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) May 15, 2025

“My parents always said skating is the most important part, so you have to put everything into your skating,” St. Martin explained. “I think now that I have the fundamentals and the technique and all the things that built up over the years, I think that just builds in my game, and it’s just a part of me. It’s the motor and the skating, it just has brought me to a lot of places that I’m really proud of- and I hope that I can just keep getting better at everything and keep building my game to be a complete player.”

The 19-year-old brings a unique pedigree to the WHL Champion Tigers.

His mom, Susan Humphreys-St. Martin, spent six seasons with Canada’s National Figure Skating Team.

Her tenure includes an appearance at the 1994 Olympic Winter Games, five national medals (highlighted by a 1997 Canadian Championship), and making the World Team twice before making the transition to coaching- first in figure skating, and later, power skating.

Humphreys-St. Martin owns Pure Sk8 in Edmonton and is also the school’s head instructor, working with 60 aspiring and current professional players in the summer months- including her son.

“Skating is very similar to learning a language,” she explained. “It’s important to learn it early, because the way that you’re able to progress through that is by learning it over a long period of time, so you get that muscle memory.

“I really believe that skating allows you to play anywhere in a lineup. It’s important to be able to penalty kill, for instance. You need to be a very exceptional skater to penalty kill effectively. And so when you see those things, it’s great. He (Hunter) broke around the guy going in Spokane, and he scored the goal. It was incredible foot speed, incredible ability to do that, and that’s kind of like icing on the cake, but all the other skills allow you to be an asset to any team, anywhere in the lineup.”

While Hunter credits his mom for his skating prowess, a lot of his respect and passion for the crest on his chest comes from his dad, Blair St. Martin, a bruising blueliner who suited up for the Tabbies from 1994-98.

Hunter even accompanied his dad to the final Tigers game in the old Medicine Hat Arena in 2015 when he was about nine years old.

“There’s a lot of pride in that logo,” Hunter added. “I was there growing up with a couple events with the Tigers, and hearing what my dad went through, it was just always a dream come true to play for the Tigers and now being on this big stage winning a championship. It wasn’t the best days, but he had so much pride for that organization, and he had blood, sweat and tears in that, and I think that just made me honor it and love it so much more. He had an impact here, so I want to make my own mark.”

“I grew up in the Tigers organization,” Blair said. “Those junior years are so formative, and I think the principles that the Tigers were instilling in us as young men have really carried forward. Now, I spend most of my days doing surgery and training surgeons of tomorrow. I think those principles that they held fast, and they do today, have really been a benefit for me. Now as a family with Hunter going through all of this, it’s just been an incredible blessing to be a part of this whole journey together.”

While the two play very different games (Blair’s parents drove 800 kilometres from Slave Lake, Alta. to watch his first game, only for him to join them in the stands after a line brawl in his first shift), Blair is most proud to see a similar dedication and drive to improve in his son.

Hunter was drafted by the Tigers 124th overall in the sixth round of the 2020 WHL Prospects Draft- not exactly a marquee selection.

But he’s steadily upped his game, putting up a career-best 39 goals (good for T-10 among all WHL skaters) and 20 assists for 59 points and a +35 rating in 65 games.

The Edmonton, Alta. product led all WHLers with seven shorthanded goals, served as one of Medicine Hat’s rotating alternate captains, and even signed a three-year, entry-level deal with the Florida Panthers after being selected by the reigning Stanley Cup Champions in the sixth round of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.

In the postseason, he chipped in seven goals (including two game-winners) and 10 assists for 17 points in 18 tilts.

He’s also doing this while managing Type 1 diabetes, which he was diagnosed with at eight years old.

“I don’t think necessarily things have come easy in sport to him, but I think that’s likely a blessing, because it goes back to some of our philosophies about the outcomes not being as important as the process,” Blair said.  “His ability to leave home and manage this on his own and to succeed and to be successful doing it is a real feather in his cap. So I think that’s one of the things I’m very proud of, is just that development of his character and maturity.”

The St. Martin clan will be in attendance for Sunday’s Memorial Cup Final as the Tigers battle the OHL Champions London Knights in the hope of bringing the Championship back to the Western League for the first time since 2014.

“You just want more,” Hunter emphasized. “You get that taste of winning, and you want more. I think that’s the biggest feeling in our locker room, it’s resetting and getting ready to win this thing.”

And if there’s one thing Susan hopes her son knows going into Sunday’s big dance, it’s this:

“You’ve done the work. You’re ready for this. You’re capable, and you’re ready to put it all out there. At the end of the day, you have to look in the mirror and say, I’ve done everything I can to be ready for this, and I’m going to put it all out there, and I’m going to be proud of the execution of this, regardless of the outcome.

“It’s not one moment that will define you, but you need to be defined by all the moments that create the ability to get to big moments like this.”