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Bryan Murray never backed down from any battle he faced during his lifetime in hockey.
That was the same approach he took with his cancer diagnosis.
The legendary former Ottawa Senators GM and coach, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer in June, 2014, put up a brave fight and refused to back down against long odds but the 74-year-old Murray, a native of Shawville in the Outaouais, has passed away.
Murray, who led the Senators to the Stanley Cup final as the club’s head coach in 2006-07, and then took over the job as general manager until he handed over the reins to Pierre Dorion in April, 2016 left a mark on the hockey world and will never be forgotten.
The first member of the Senators installed in the Ring of Honour by Ottawa on Jan. 24, this year before a game against the Washington Capitals, Murray spent more than 35 years in the NHL and when his cancer diagnosis became he public he told his story to help save the lives of other.
Murray, one of the truly fine characters in the game, sent a message to those who haven’t had a colonoscopy to go to their doctors because there wasn’t a cure for the cancer but there could have been if he’d had the test.
“I didn’t have a colonoscopy, which I should have had,” Murray told TSN’s Michael Farber in a feature that aired in November, 2014. “I don’t know why I didn’t. One of the comments that came back to me on a regular basis were, ‘You’re healthy, you’re from a family that hasn’t had any disease whatsoever, we can maybe wait.’
“But that’s also my fault in that I should have demanded (one) or at least asked for it, but like a lot of men do, I put it off.”
Murray then made sure he hammered home the importance of the checkup.
“A simple colonoscopy, in my case, probably would have solved the problem that I have,” he said.
Murray told his wife Geri he wanted to try coaching “for a year” when he took over the WHL’s Regina Pats in 1979 and has never looked back. He was wth the AHL’s Hershey Bears the next season and hired by the NHL’s Washington Capitals in 1981, Murray spent the rest of his career in the league.
After a remarkable nine seasons behind the Capitals bench, Murray made stops in Detroit, Florida in Anaheim as a both a GM and coach before coming back to Ottawa in 2005-06. He had success because was a special person who understood the way to get players to rally around him.
Murray’s nephew Tim was the GM of the Buffalo Sabres and his brother Terry was a longtime NHL coach.
“To get right to the very bottom of Bryan, you have to go back to his roots,” Nashville Predators’ GM David Poile, a close friend who first met Murray in Washington in 1980, told Postmedia in March, 2015 before he was honoured by the NHL GM’s at their annual meeting in Boca Raton.
“Bryan, by education, is and was, a teacher. He knows the X’s and O’s of the game of hockey really well and I don’t think there’s anyone who will dispute that. But, first and foremost, he’s a teacher. As a teacher, he really knows his players. He knows how to communicate with them. He knows how to push their buttons and he’s got a great way, a unique, way about him.
“Some that don’t know him would say he’s a little sarcastic from time to time. The way he talks to them, he gets to them and he gets them to understand what it takes to play. He gets them motivated. As a teacher, he just loves to be influential on players’ careers and he is and has been for his coaching and managing career.”
Despite the cancer diagnosis, Murray remained on the job for two more years while undergoing regular chemotheraphy treatments and moved into the role as senior adviser in the spring.
Owner Eugene Melnyk noted Murray should be “inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame” when he was selected to the Ring of Honour and, hopefully, that happens.
“Some of his meetings he was pretty sarcastic with certain things,” winger Chris Neil said in January. “We were in a meeting and he showed video of (Jason Spezza) turning the puck over and he’d be like, ‘This is what not to do’ and the whole room would be laughing. He got his point across and that’s way he got guys to respond.
“He’s one of those coaches that always had everybody in his lineup going for him and that’s tough to do.”
Murray loved being at the rink every day and especially being around the players. He said in January he was fortunate to be able to close out his days in the NHL with the Senators.
“To finish my career in Ottawa and to receive this recognition, is certainly another highlight,” said Murray, who listed his trip to the final with the Senators and the reaction of the city among his most memorable moments.
In the interview with Farber in 2014, he noted Murray wasn’t a fan of the tie-breaking shootouts, and the best approach he could take with the disease was to fight as hard as he could for as long as he could.
“That’s all you can do, and I hate shootouts,” said Murray. “Let’s go to extra overtime and keep playing like the game that we played (against the Islanders) many years ago and it went to four overtime periods.
“Let’s keep it going as long as we can and be as healthy as we can for that time and enjoy what we have as we do it.”
Not only will Murray be terribly missed by his wife Geri along with their daughters Heide and Brittany and the couple’s grandchildren, there will be a deep hole in the lives of all the people in the hockey world he touched.
bgarrioch@postmedia.com
Twitter: @sungarrioch
查看原文...
That was the same approach he took with his cancer diagnosis.
The legendary former Ottawa Senators GM and coach, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer in June, 2014, put up a brave fight and refused to back down against long odds but the 74-year-old Murray, a native of Shawville in the Outaouais, has passed away.
Murray, who led the Senators to the Stanley Cup final as the club’s head coach in 2006-07, and then took over the job as general manager until he handed over the reins to Pierre Dorion in April, 2016 left a mark on the hockey world and will never be forgotten.
The first member of the Senators installed in the Ring of Honour by Ottawa on Jan. 24, this year before a game against the Washington Capitals, Murray spent more than 35 years in the NHL and when his cancer diagnosis became he public he told his story to help save the lives of other.
Murray, one of the truly fine characters in the game, sent a message to those who haven’t had a colonoscopy to go to their doctors because there wasn’t a cure for the cancer but there could have been if he’d had the test.
“I didn’t have a colonoscopy, which I should have had,” Murray told TSN’s Michael Farber in a feature that aired in November, 2014. “I don’t know why I didn’t. One of the comments that came back to me on a regular basis were, ‘You’re healthy, you’re from a family that hasn’t had any disease whatsoever, we can maybe wait.’
“But that’s also my fault in that I should have demanded (one) or at least asked for it, but like a lot of men do, I put it off.”
Murray then made sure he hammered home the importance of the checkup.
“A simple colonoscopy, in my case, probably would have solved the problem that I have,” he said.
Murray told his wife Geri he wanted to try coaching “for a year” when he took over the WHL’s Regina Pats in 1979 and has never looked back. He was wth the AHL’s Hershey Bears the next season and hired by the NHL’s Washington Capitals in 1981, Murray spent the rest of his career in the league.
After a remarkable nine seasons behind the Capitals bench, Murray made stops in Detroit, Florida in Anaheim as a both a GM and coach before coming back to Ottawa in 2005-06. He had success because was a special person who understood the way to get players to rally around him.
Murray’s nephew Tim was the GM of the Buffalo Sabres and his brother Terry was a longtime NHL coach.
“To get right to the very bottom of Bryan, you have to go back to his roots,” Nashville Predators’ GM David Poile, a close friend who first met Murray in Washington in 1980, told Postmedia in March, 2015 before he was honoured by the NHL GM’s at their annual meeting in Boca Raton.
“Bryan, by education, is and was, a teacher. He knows the X’s and O’s of the game of hockey really well and I don’t think there’s anyone who will dispute that. But, first and foremost, he’s a teacher. As a teacher, he really knows his players. He knows how to communicate with them. He knows how to push their buttons and he’s got a great way, a unique, way about him.
“Some that don’t know him would say he’s a little sarcastic from time to time. The way he talks to them, he gets to them and he gets them to understand what it takes to play. He gets them motivated. As a teacher, he just loves to be influential on players’ careers and he is and has been for his coaching and managing career.”
Despite the cancer diagnosis, Murray remained on the job for two more years while undergoing regular chemotheraphy treatments and moved into the role as senior adviser in the spring.
Owner Eugene Melnyk noted Murray should be “inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame” when he was selected to the Ring of Honour and, hopefully, that happens.
“Some of his meetings he was pretty sarcastic with certain things,” winger Chris Neil said in January. “We were in a meeting and he showed video of (Jason Spezza) turning the puck over and he’d be like, ‘This is what not to do’ and the whole room would be laughing. He got his point across and that’s way he got guys to respond.
“He’s one of those coaches that always had everybody in his lineup going for him and that’s tough to do.”
Murray loved being at the rink every day and especially being around the players. He said in January he was fortunate to be able to close out his days in the NHL with the Senators.
“To finish my career in Ottawa and to receive this recognition, is certainly another highlight,” said Murray, who listed his trip to the final with the Senators and the reaction of the city among his most memorable moments.
In the interview with Farber in 2014, he noted Murray wasn’t a fan of the tie-breaking shootouts, and the best approach he could take with the disease was to fight as hard as he could for as long as he could.
“That’s all you can do, and I hate shootouts,” said Murray. “Let’s go to extra overtime and keep playing like the game that we played (against the Islanders) many years ago and it went to four overtime periods.
“Let’s keep it going as long as we can and be as healthy as we can for that time and enjoy what we have as we do it.”
Not only will Murray be terribly missed by his wife Geri along with their daughters Heide and Brittany and the couple’s grandchildren, there will be a deep hole in the lives of all the people in the hockey world he touched.
bgarrioch@postmedia.com
Twitter: @sungarrioch
查看原文...
