DUBLIN PRODUCT TO FACE BLUE JACKETS TONIGHT
Blackhawks’ Murphy established in NHL, but Blue Jackets still stir up memories
CHICAGO — The thrill has yet to vanish.
When Connor Murphy strides onto the ice Friday night at the United Center — the Windy City’s famed “Madhouse on Madison Street” — the tall, rangy Blackhawks defenseman will have a little extra juice because of the team across the ice.
Murphy, the son of former NHL defenseman and former Blue Jackets assistant Gord Murphy, was raised in Dublin and still considers it a special game when he gets to play the Jackets.
“I mean, it’s your hometown and I think more people notice it at home,” said Murphy, who returns to cental Ohio for at least part of his offseason breaks. “It’s cool
to still have texts coming in from friends who will see the game back there.”
Also cool for Murphy is seeing the Blue Jackets logo on the team he’s playing, since he literally grew up with it. This will be his 11th career game against them, and it’s still a kick.
“My dad coached there for eight years, so I grew up running around the dressing room and I was all into it,” said Murphy, who has played for the Arizona Coyotes and Blackhawks in his seven-year NHL career. “We didn’t have the best results for seasons; I think we made the playoffs once … but it was unique and I was really lucky to have that to grow up around.”
Also unique were the bonds he formed while growing up playing hockey in central Ohio.
Murphy still keeps in contact with his former amateur coach, Ed Gingher, who heads up the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets program, and his older brother still plays in a local men’s league in Columbus, along with some former AAA Blue Jackets teammates.
Murphy has developed some close friendships with fellow Nhlers who grew up in Columbus, as well, including Boston Bruins center Sean Kuraly, Winnipeg Jets forward Jack Roslovic and the Sherwood brothers of New Albany — Kole (Blue Jackets) and Kiefer (Anaheim Ducks).
Murphy, Kuraly and Roslovic are established in the NHL now, trying to help their teams win a championship. The Sherwoods made their NHL debuts last season and are hoping to become regulars soon.
“It’s fun because every summer it changes,” Murphy said. “The first years, you come back from your NHL teams and you’re saying, like, ‘How about those meals and those pregame meals, huh?’ Or, ‘How about the plane?’ Now, it’s more like you’re just talking about your teams and trying to win a Stanley Cup and trying to make the playoffs. It just becomes more normal, I guess, having more experience.”
Kuraly had an atypical experience last season, helping the Bruins eliminate the Blue Jackets in the second round of the playoffs and scoring a goal in Boston’s 4-1 victory in Game 4 at Nationwide Arena. Kuraly also became the first hockey player raised in central Ohio to play in the Stanley Cup finals.
Murphy didn’t have a rooting interest, as far as teams, but he pulled hard for his longtime friend, Kuraly, whose Bruins came up just short of winning the Cup in a seven-game series against the St. Louis Blues.
“It was surreal,” Murphy said of watching Kuraly being introduced as a Bruins starter for Game 1 of that series at TD Garden. “I was nervous for him. You try to put yourself in those shoes, thinking of what that would be like to be on that stage — which is what we’d both dreamed about our whole lives watching hockey together growing up. It comes full circle.”
It also comes rushing back sometimes, including when it’s time to play against the Blue Jackets.