Golden Memories

Jan 6, 2015

Head Coach and General Manager Marty Murray was away from the bench last weekend; but for a great reason. Hockey Canada was honoring the 1994 and 1995 Canadian World Junior teams at this year’s event that was held at the Air Canada Center in Toronto, Ontario. Murray, who played on both teams that won gold, was an instrumental piece in both years for Canada.

In 1994 Canada was the underdog entering the tournament as the sixth seed and needed to knock off Sweden to win the gold in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Canada won the game 6-4. Murray recorded 1 goal and 3 assists being a role player during the tournament, “We were a group that wasn’t expected to do well, we wanted to do whatever we could for our country and overcame any obstacles we had to that year,” commented Murray on the ’94 team.

In ’95 Murray’s personal and team expectations were much greater, Canada was ranked number 1 entering the tournament and Murray was a player that would be looked upon to carry the load for Canada. Murray said of the ’95 team: ”It was a gold or nothing year, we were playing on home soil and had a lot of experience on our team. It was special being able to win it in front of our fans.”  During the tournament that was held in Red Deer, Alberta he would go on to lead the team in scoring with 6 goals and 9 assists which was a tournament high and helped him in being named Top Forward in the Tournament and named to the All Star team. Canada would make history in ’95 being 7-0 and going undefeated to win the gold. “It was a tremendous honor to don your Nation’s jersey and feel very fortunate to be able to do that, reflecting back it was one of the highlights of my career” said Murray.

The Tauros coach has many different experiences from his playing days that he relates to his current players “Coach Murray brings a lot to our organization from his playing experiences to what he has done since then. His experience and knowledge that he shares with our guys is very valuable for them in hockey and life. I’d say we are fortunate to have a person like that leading our way,” commented Assistant Coach Dube.

Murray’s family was always by his side when he was wearing the red and white and it was no different this past weekend as his wife- Andrea and son- Cole were both in Toronto to see him being acknowledged.