sarah murray 640

The first cut is the sweetest

Sarah Murray found a new hockey home with the Red Deer Chiefs

Wendy Graves
|
April 20, 2015
|

It’s funny how things work out sometimes.

Last summer Sarah Murray suddenly found herself without a team, a victim of the numbers game when the Calgary Flyers and Calgary Bruins merged to form a single squad, the Calgary Fire, for the 2014-15 Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League (AMMFHL) season.

“It was kind of expected, but at the same time it was hard to accept because I wasn’t sure if I’d make it or not,” says Murray. “I just didn’t have a whole lot of options at that point.”

Fast-forward to the end of the season and the goaltender, having gone on to earn a spot with the Red Deer Chiefs, is backstopping her new team on home ice at the 2015 Esso Cup.

Uncertainty and disappointment have given way to excitement and expectation. And the struggles and letdowns of last season are all but forgotten, only resonating in how they toughened Murray up and sharpened her resolve.

“As a team we were low in the standings,” Murray says about last year with the Flyers. In her 14 games in net Murray saw an average of 33 shots a night. “It was an alright year, but it definitely helped me develop with getting so many shots a game.”

At the fall tryouts six goalies turned out to compete for the two openings.

“The coach was courteous enough to call me to tell me I was being cut,” says Murray. “And he told me of all the other coaches who were interested in me for the season.”

A day after talking with one of the teams, the Rocky Mountain Raiders, Murray learned its association wouldn’t allow imports that season.

One door had closed but two more remained open. Murray had already discussed the possibility of going beyond the Calgary city lines with her parents, Mark and Janice. “Red Deer was an option, but we were all concerned about the travel.”

A member of the Chiefs’ coaching staff had attended the Calgary tryouts. After Murray was cut, the team invited her to its tryouts.

The Southeast Tigers were still behind door No. 3, but in the end, says Murray, the decision was easy.

“Red Deer had done a much better job of recruiting me. And they had the Esso Cup, so it was the better choice for sure.”

Last season Murray started two games for the Flyers against the Chiefs. She made 31 saves in a 2-0 loss and stopped another 19 shots in a 2-1 win. The coaching staff knew what she could do.

“We felt we needed a top-quality goalie if we were going to compete at nationals,” says Tom Bast, head coach of the Chiefs. “Also, it was a little luck on our part as we never thought Calgary would let her go.”

Bast points to her calmness in the net and overall focus, in particular, as being key strengths. “Technically she’s very sound and has excellent movement and great rebound control. But most of all she’s very dedicated to her position and to the team.”

That commitment is clear with the full schedule the 17-year-old set for herself this year. Murray attends a self-directed school, where she’s able to set her own pace for her studies. In addition to making the hour-and-a-half drive to Red Deer on Tuesdays and Thursdays for practice, she takes a night class in math on Mondays and Wednesdays (“I want structured math”) and travels on weekends for games. Add in working for Gold in the Net Alberta as a goalie coach and volunteering with Calgary Youth Central and it’s clear Murray is as adapt at multi-tasking as she is at stopping pucks.

“It’s just really helpful to have that flexibility [with my schooling] with hockey,” says Murray. “It’s definitely a push to stay on track, but when you’re able to do just as much work when you’re on the road it makes it a lot easier.”

What was hard was matching up against the Fire, a roster filled with Murray’s friends but also a team she was eager to prove wrong.

“Those were probably some of my most nerve-racking games all season,” she says. “They were definitely intense for me, but my team seemed to step up and help me out for those.”

The Fire would eventually win the AMMFHL regular season title, but Murray handed Calgary three of its six losses, allowing only one goal and shutting the team out twice in those games.

In the five-team provincial tournament, Murray recorded back-to-back shutouts in the team’s final two preliminary round games. In the semifinals she made it a hat trick, making 27 saves in defeating Calgary 5-0 to end the Fire’s season.

“That was definitely redemption for me and there were a few tears after that.”

The final road trip in a season of road trips ends this week at the Esso Cup. Murray got her first taste of the event four years ago when she was a volunteer junior host in her hometown of St. Albert, Alta. Back then she was charged with delivering snacks to the teams’ dressing rooms, and on one occasion even getting invited in to visit with the Atlantic Region representative Kings County Kings.

Now, Murray will be on the other side of the dressing room door.

For more information:

Esther Madziya
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 284-6484 

[email protected] 

Spencer Sharkey
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 777-4567

[email protected]

Jeremy Knight
Manager, Corporate Communications
Hockey Canada

(647) 251-9738

[email protected]

Recent News
Most Popular
Videos
Photos
HCC: One For All in Yellowknife
One For All celebrated women’s hockey with more than 300 participants.
2024 NWT Rivalry Series: CAN 6 – USA 1 (Game 7)
Spooner and Maltais scored twice to lead Canada to win the series.
2023-24 NWT: CAN 3 – USA 0 (Game 6)
Maschmeyer made 27 saves for the shutout to tie the Rivalry Series.
2023-24 NWT: CAN 4 – USA 2 (Game 5)
Bell, Fast and Stacey scored late to help Canada stay alive.
Schedule