22 years ago, back in the summer of 2002 Edinburgh Capitals decided to go down a different route in player recruitment. The club tapped into the Eastern European hockey scene and brought in 3 Czech and 2 Slovakian players along with a couple of North American college kids. One of those Slovakians was a 26-year-old forward by the name of Martin Cingel.
The previous season Martin had been icing in the Slovakian Elite League with MHC Martin, scoring 35 points in 52 games. For Martin, moving away from his homeland for the first time he was going into the unknown. Having fellow countrymen around him made that transition so much smoother.
His first game for the club was against Dundee Stars in a BNL Cup clash. Up in Dundee that night on the 21st of September 2002 the team lost 16-3 and Martin must have thought “What the hell am I doing here?”. Little did he know Edinburgh would become home and even to this present day he still lives in the capital of Scotland. A club legend was well and truly born.
From 2002-2017 Cingi played 12 seasons with the Capitals with single years at Manchester Phoenix, Solway Sharks, and Dundee Stars sandwiched in between. In 575 games in all competitions for the Caps, he scored 219 goals, 308 assists for 527 points, and picked up 744 penalty minutes. To this day he remains the club’s all-time top goals, assists, points, and penalty minute scorer and sits second in games played only to Neil Hay.
In his first season at the club, he iced in 31 games scoring 18 goals and 19 assists for 37 points. Unfortunately, he would only ice half the year due to a mid-season injury. From the very start though as well as being a top player he was a leader both on and off the ice.
The following season he returned to the club and wore an A on his jersey. He would have this letter for the next 3 years before being awarded the captaincy at the start of season 2006-2007. Like a true leader, he led the team week in week out, proudly wearing the C for the next 7 seasons he was with the club.
Through the years Cingi would also become a firm fan favourite. He would interact with the fans after games and the Caps faithful loved him. There was nothing better than seeing that big smile of his as the fans sang his song after every goal he scored and after every win as the players left the ice.
Cingi saw many great teammates come and go over his 12 years with the club but he showed loyalty to the Capitals and rightly so is now classed as a club legend.
On Saturday 26th of October 2024 when we take on Dundee Rockets here at Murrayfield Ice Arena, the club will fittingly retire the #29 jersey in honour of Cingi. With Martin and his family and friends in attendance, it’s set to be a great night with Caps fans old and new heading to the Lion’s Den. We are sure a number of his old teammates will also pop along to show their respects to a great player and above all a great human being.
Tickets for the game are available to buy now via our fanbase app so make sure you get them booked for what will be a very busy night.
More details will be announced closer to the game.
“Oh Cingel Shoots, Cingel Scores, Cingel all the way. Oh what fun it is to score against the Flyers today Oh…”
LET’S GO CAPITALS!
