Joe Martin’s summer was supposed to be about chasing a dream – not running from missiles.
The 26-year-old Victoria native packed his bags at the end of May for a once-in-a-lifetime shot at playing professional hockey overseas, suiting up for the Holon Vipers in the Israel Elite Hockey League (IEHL).
A few weeks later, he was crouched four storeys underground, listening to the walls rattle as a missile dismantled the building across the street from his Tel Aviv apartment.
“If we weren’t in the shelter, we could’ve died,” Martin said. “I’ll never forget that feeling – walking out and just seeing absolute destruction on our street.”
Martin grew up playing minor hockey in Saanich before studying Sport Management at Camosun College. He interned with the Victoria Royals during his schooling and now works for the Abbotsford Canucks.
The opportunity to play overseas came through a longtime friend – another Jewish player from Victoria – who had previously skated in the IEHL.
“I’d always wanted to go over there, but I knew tensions were pretty high,” Martin said. “When my buddy brought it up, it took me a while to decide. I probably sat on it for two months. But I figured, this is a rare chance. Let’s go for it.”
He arrived on May 31 and settled into life in Tel Aviv, one of Israel’s largest cities.
On the ice, the league offered a mixed bag – a handful of former professionals, some high-level prospects, and others just hoping to hang on. Martin scored three goals and added an assist in four games, with more planned through early July.
But everything changed on Friday the 13th in June.
“I got woken up at 3 a.m. by this different kind of siren – it was like an Amber Alert on my phone, not the usual air raid system,” he said. “We didn’t know what was happening at first. Then word started going around that Israel had attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities.”
That strike triggered a series of missile attacks aimed at central Israel.
At first, Martin said, the missiles were intercepted by Israel’s air defence system. But it didn’t take long before some began slipping through.
On the third night of attacks, one struck an apartment building less than 200 feet from his.
The building directly in between absorbed much of the blast, but his own unit was destroyed – walls cracked, windows blown out, glass scattered across the floor.
“You could feel the impact underground,” he said. “When we came up, there were emergency and military vehicles all over the street. Every window in our neighbourhood was shattered – storefronts, houses, cars. There was more glass than concrete on the ground.”
With the Tel Aviv airport closed and little direction from the Canadian embassy, Martin and a fellow Canadian teammate crafted their own escape plan.
Another teammate – an ex-military Israeli player armed with an M16 rifle – offered to drive them 45 minutes through the West Bank to the Jordanian border.
The route was risky, but it seemed like the only viable option.
On the other side of the border, a friend of a friend in Jordan was ready to pick them up and drive them to the airport in Amman.
Martin and his friend were seconds from pulling out $1,500 in cash to pay for the trip when everything changed.
“Right as we were about to pay the driver, the email came in from the Canadian embassy saying they were arranging to get us out,” he said. “We scrapped the plan immediately. It was a huge relief, but up to that point, we were on our own.”
Martin flew back to Canada just under two weeks earlier than expected.
While he missed out on a few more games, the decision to leave wasn’t difficult.
“I got three games in before everything happened. It’s a summer league, so I would’ve stayed until around July 4,” he said. “But once our apartment was destroyed, we knew it wasn’t worth waiting around.”
Now living in Vancouver and settling into his role with the Abbotsford Canucks organization, Martin is still processing the experience.
One moment, he was playing hockey in the sun. The next, he was navigating an active war zone.
“It’s a lot to unpack,” he said. “You don’t expect to be diving into shelters, planning escape routes through the West Bank, or seeing buildings you lived in blown apart. I just feel lucky – lucky to have made it home, and lucky for the people who helped me get here.”
Martin said he doesn’t regret going, despite the danger.
“It was still a dream come true in some ways. I got to play the sport I love in a part of the world I’ve always wanted to visit,” he said. “But yeah – I’ll probably pick a safer spot next time.”
