Cup still only half full for Pens goalie
Matt Murray is sitting at a hotel restaurant in his hometown, where he has one eye on his omelette and the other on his phone, which he picks up between bites to check the time. He’s on a tight schedule to get out of there.
At exactly 10 a.m., the Pittsburgh Penguins goalie begins his day with the Stanley Cup. Or rather, he gets his allotted 12 hours with it. And Murray plans on enjoying every single second of them.
This is the second straight year the 23-year-old has won the Cup and brought it back to Northern Ontario. But unlike a year ago, when his parents mostly handled the celebrations, he’s assumed the role of party planner. For those that know Murray, the emphasis is on the latter of the two words.
There is no parade on this day. No pomp or pageantry. There’s not even a single balloon.
“It’s going to be a little more low-key this year,” Murray says. “A little less running around. Maybe take a minute with myself with the Cup this time. Last year, I don’t even think I had a single minute.”
In some ways, it’s keeping with the environment. Thunder Bay, which boasts a population of 120,000, is a mostly no-frills city. Aside from Murray’s Range Rover, the parking lot is filled with pickup trucks and folks who all seem to know each other or someone in your family.
“It’s a tight-knit community,” Murray says. “Once you get outside the city limits, it’s probably hours before you run into another town. You’re secluded.”
The Stanley Cup has famously been dumped to the bottom of Mario Lemieux’s swimming pool and taken on helicopter rides to the top of mountains. About a week ago, it was sweating beside Olli Maatta in a sauna in Finland.
Murray’s first stop is to a hockey dressing room at Fort William Gardens — “I still remember it was one of my first times playing net,” he says of the arena — where he has invited a small group of family and close friends to take pictures. From there, he hoists it above his head and walks onto the main rink as a DJ blasts Queen’s We Are the Champions to a crowd of a few hundred fans who have been lining up since 6 a.m.
“We’re very lucky,” says Heather MacGillivray, who brought her 10-year-old son, Billy, to meet Murray for the second year in a row. “He’s got to see the Cup a couple of times now.”
At 2 p.m., Murray is off in his Range Rover for something more private. A staged photo is posted on Twitter of Murray and his girlfriend lounging on a couch in front of a TV, with Murray eating popcorn out of the silver bowl. Another is posted on Instagram of his dog Beckham, a big black Newfoundland who Murray says he’ll let drink water out of the Cup.
The wildest thing planned? Taking it to the top of Hillcrest Park again, a favourite scenic hangout where you can see Lake Superior, Sleeping Giant Provincial Park and pretty much all of Thunder Bay.
“It’s got my favourite views that I’ve ever seen,” Murray says. “It’s just a good place to go. It’s super quiet up there. Not many people. It’s a good place to sit and think.”
For Murray, there’s plenty to contemplate these days.
On one hand, the two-time Stanley Cup champion has accomplished more in his last two years as a rookie than most players will have in their career.
On the other, his success has mostly come in a two-month window in the playoffs. He complains that he was average in the regular season, that he was the beneficiary of playing on a deep and talented team led by Sidney Crosby, and that Marc-Andre Fleury deserves a lot of credit for his success.
With Fleury now gone to Vegas, having been selected in the expansion draft, this will be the first year where the net is entirely Murray’s. That comes with its own set of challenges, both mental and physical.
Without a safety net, Murray realizes he can’t afford to miss time because of injury — or slip into a slump. And he also realizes if the Penguins hope to three-peat, he cannot simply save his best performance for the playoffs.
“I feel I’ve been pretty lucky to be part of such a good team in my first two years. To an extent, I feel like I’ve been good at the right times but I’ve also been lucky to be in those situations,” Murray says.
“All together, I’m not anywhere near where I’d like to be as a goalie. I feel like I have a lot more to give.”
Murray has spent the last few weeks training with personal trainer Steve Bailot, whom he has worked with for the past 10 years. They are focusing on stabilizing exercises, which should prevent future injuries and make the rail-thin Murray — “he isn’t much bigger than he was at 13,” Bailot says jokingly — more durable.
“Last year, I feel like I was average for most of the season but that I was really good in the playoffs and in those big games when I needed to be,” says Murray, who recorded back-to-back shutouts in Game 5 and Game 6 against the Nashville Predators to win the Cup. “But I’ve only played like 60 games and 30 playoff games. It’s definitely a weird scenario. I feel like I haven’t even reached my potential yet.
“There’s going to be new challenges this year that will probably be the first time that I’ve faced challenges, in terms of playing a lot of games and staying healthy.”
Speaking of staying healthy, Murray is in need of a Band-Aid.
He’s not bleeding, but one of his fingers is developing a nasty blister. It’s the result of wearing a championship ring the size of a baseball and shaking about three hundred hands in 30 minutes.
For Murray, who aside from wearing the bobble-sized bauble, is dressed down in black sweats and matching long-sleeve shirt, it is another lesson in subtlety.
“I’ve never really worn it,” says Murray, who pockets the ring.
“Here, I feel more like a normal kid than an NHL player. Even on days like today, everyone treats me like a normal guy. It’s nice in that regard.”