Marty Clapton

Marty Clapton (Born 1 July 1974 in Newton, Massachusetts) is an American professional ice hockey player. Clapton played in 579 regular season games and 68 more playoff games over 10 season in the AHL and ECHL.

Amateur career
Starting at the age of four, Clapton was coached by his father (who played at the University of Massachusetts) to play hockey, but it wasn’t until he received a hockey scholarship from Brown University that he realized he might have a chance to play hockey professionally. Clapton’s break came at the end of his senior year at college when John Brophy, who was then the coach of the Hampton Roads Admirals, saw Clapton play in a Canada – United States college all-star game. Brophy was so impressed that he offered Clapton a contract to play in the ECHL.

Professional career
In 1998 Clapton won the ECHL championship and the Kelly Cup in his first season as a professional with the Roads Admirals. Clapton stayed with the Hampton Roads Admirals until the end of the 1999–00 ECHL season. During that time Clapton was briefly called up to the AHL where he played two games with the Portland Pirates during the 1997–98 AHL season.

Clapton moved to the South Carolina Stingrays for the start of the 2000–01 ECHL season, and the Stingrays won the Kelly Cup in Clapton’s first year with the team. His steady played earned Clapton another call up to the AHL, where he played 12 games with the Rochester Americans during the 2001–02 AHL season. He also earned an opportunity to play six playoff games with the St. John's Maple Leafs at the end of the 2001–02 AHL season.

With the exception of 10 games played with the Long Beach Ice Dogs during the 2004–05 ECHL season, Clapton played with the Stingrays for the remainder of his career. A useful utility player, Clapton played both forward and defense. By the time Clapton played his last game with the Stingrays in the 2005–06 ECHL season he was ranked 3rd on the All-time Stingrays games played list with 373.

Clapton returned to the ice for one game with the Columbia Inferno during the 2006–07 ECHL season before retiring from professional hockey.