Marty Wilford

Marty Wilford ( born April 17, 1977 in Cobourg, Ontario ) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player and current coach who has played during his active career primarily in the American Hockey League. Since the summer of 2012, he works as an assistant coach with the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL.

Career

Wilford began his career in 1994 at the Oshawa Generals in the Canadian Junior Football League OHL. After his first year in Canada höchstklassigster junior league of defenders at the NHL Entry Draft in 1995 was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the sixth round at 149th place, but remained two more years in the OHL and won in 1997 with his team the championship. The Canadian was also the top scoring defender and second best scorer on his team.

The following season, Marty Wilford, signed his first professional contract with the Chicago Blackhawks, but first played for four years for their farm teams Columbus Chill in the East Coast Hockey League, Indianapolis Ice and Cleveland Lumberjacks in the IHL and the AHL for the Norfolk Admirals newly founded. In the 2001 /02 season, the Blackhawks Wilford transferred to the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he played in the farm team St. John 's Maple Leafs. Towards the end of the season the defender was again part of an exchange transaction, this time to the Nashville Predators, who initially put him with the Milwaukee Admirals. After a few games the Canadians finally moved to the Hartford Wolf Pack. The next three years Wilford played again at the Norfolk Admirals, where he was offensive strongest defenders in each season and still holds the team record for most assists an admiral player. For the season 2005/ 06 the contract by the Canadian ran out, so he became a free agent to the Manchester Monarchs. A year later, Wilford joined the Iowa Stars.

For the season 2007/ 08, the Canadians signed a contract with the Hamburg Freezers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, where he also played offensive and fourth best defender of the league was. Since the beginning of the season 08/ 09 Wilford stands for the Iserlohn Roosters on the ice, where he signed a two-year contract. In his first season in the Sauerland, he was the top scoring defender of the Roosters, but failed to qualify for the play- offs with them. A year later he formed with Mark Ardelan, with whom he already played from 2005 to 2007 in the AHL, the first defender pair of Iserlohn. In addition, both were the offensive strongest defenders of the Roosters. Also in the defensive work they were able to convince, in the first half of the season conceding only four teams fewer goals. In the further course of the season the team's performance faded but so again only the eleventh place was reached. Wilford, however, advanced to the point best defenders the league and set a new club record when he gave at least one assist in ten games in a row. After the end of the season the Roosters announced the departure of the Canadian. In September 2010, the Canadians signed a contract with SHC Fassa in the Italian Serie A1.

After the season 2010/11 Wilford ended his playing career and was appointed jointly with Brad Lauer as assistant coach of the Syracuse Crunch in July 2011. After the Anaheim Ducks had completed a multi-year collaboration with the Norfolk Admirals in June 2012, Wilford was further employed by their AHL farm team as assistant coach.

Awards and achievements

Career Stats

( Key to Career statistics: Sp or GP = Games Played, T or G = goals scored, V or A = achieved assists; Pts or Pts = scored points scorer, SM or PIM = received penalty minutes, / - = Plus / Minus balance sheet; PP = scored majority gates; SH = scored shorthanded goals, GW = achieved victory gates; Play-downs/Relegation 1 )