Murdoch won NHL coach of the year honours with the Winnipeg Jets, helped develop the Calgary Flames into a perennial contender and assisted in Canada’s first world championship
In the 1960s, the likelihood of Bob Murdoch earning a living in pro hockey was as clear as his nickname: Mud. Relatively few players have reached the National Hockey League via the Canadian university ranks, because most top prospects are scouted and recruited as juniors.
Mr. Murdoch, a former University of Waterloo defenceman, bucked the long odds by cracking a Montreal Canadiens roster loaded with future hall of famers. “It’s not so hard to be a regular on almost any other team, but it’s really hard to become a regular on the Montreal Canadiens – and that’s what he became,” said former Habs goaltending great Ken Dryden, Mr. Murdoch’s teammate in Montreal, the minors and with Canada’s national team. Mr. Murdoch, who died Aug. 3 in Calgary at age 76 of complications arising from dementia, helped the Canadiens win two Stanley Cup titles in his first three full pro seasons. He parlayed his Montreal achievements into long playing and coaching tenures in the NHL and internationally. His many coaching accomplishments included earning NHL coach of the year honours with the Winnipeg Jets, helping the Calgary Flames reach their first Stanley Cup finals and assisting in Canada’s first world championship in 33 years, in 1994. “He had a wonderful manner with players and with people,” said George Kingston, who employed him as his assistant with Team Canada in 1994 and the San Jose Sharks in their first two seasons. Robert John Murdoch was born Nov. 20, 1946, in Kirkland Lake, Ont., and grew up in nearby Larder Lake. He was the youngest of three children born to Herbert Melville and Hazel Murdoch. Mel owned a rental-car business, later passed on to his children, that operated across Northern Ontario. Hazel was a homemaker. Bob played hockey on outdoor rinks until age 14, when his family moved to Kirkland Lake. He starred at both defence and forward with the town’s juvenile team as it won provincial and Northern Ontario titles. He went on to captain the Waterloo Warriors, who ranked among the best Canadian university teams during his era, while earning a dual degree in mathematics and physical education – and earned an invitation to play with Canada’s national program. “He had to be good enough to draw the attention of the national team because most of the players on the national team didn’t come out of Canadian college hockey,” Mr. Dryden said. “They came out of junior hockey and had been stars or near-stars in junior hockey. Canadian college hockey, at the time, was a very secondary place to play.” Philadelphia Flyers center Bobby Clarke, centre, pushes Montreal Canadiens defenseman Bob Murdoch, right, into the boards on April 22, 1973 in Philadelphia. Bob Murdoch, a two-time Stanley Cup champion and a former NHL defenseman, died at the age of 76.Mr. Murdoch played for Canada’s fourth-place squad in the 1969 world championships and continued with the national program afterward, seeking to compete in the 1969 worlds and 1972 Olympics. But later in 1969 as Canada withdrew from both events because the International Ice Hockey Federation and International Olympic Committee prohibited professionals, he was left wondering where he would play. With Mr. Dryden’s help, he secured – and passed – a six-game tryout that year with the Canadiens’ then top farm team, the Montreal Voyageurs. In 1970-71, he was called up to the Habs for one regular-season game and two contests in the finals, getting his name engraved on the Stanley Cup. Mr. Murdoch received the nod over established veterans because coaches and teammates recognized his ability to think, adapt and triumph in the most challenging moments, said Mr. Dryden, who backstopped the Canadiens to the Cup that season. “You can’t finesse how you are at moments like that. You’re too absorbed in what you’re doing. Your personality – your character – gets revealed,” Mr. Dryden said. Off the ice, Mr. Murdoch took everything in before making occasional comments that were always surprising, funny and interesting, Mr. Dryden added. “He would always be just, kind of, off the pace, quirky in that kind of way and, to others, endearing,” Mr. Dryden said. “It was just Mud being Mud.” Between his two Stanley Cups, Mr. Murdoch helped the Nova Scotia Voyageurs, claim the 1971-72 American Hockey League title. After winning his second Stanley Cup in 1972-73, he was traded to Los Angeles, earning a spot in the 1974-75 NHL All-Star game and playing through multiple serious injuries. He completed his playing career with the Atlanta and Calgary Flames from 1979 to 1982, serving as a positive role model for younger players. “Bob Murdoch was the best and most impactful roommate I ever had,” said Jim Peplinski, who was a 19-year-old rookie when they met in the Calgary Flames’ inaugural 1980-81 season. “I walked in the room and he was reading a book that was even thicker than his glasses. “I thought I was in the wrong room. “I thought I stumbled into the room of a university professor – and it turned out it was Mud. The way that he behaved was the model that set the stage for the way that I wanted to behave.” Upon retiring as a player in 1982, Mr. Murdoch began his coaching career as a Flames assistant under newly hired head coach Bob Johnson, a University of Wisconsin legend who became one in the NHL, too. “Bob was the perfect foil for Bob Johnson, because when Bob Johnson came in, he was very much a college coach,” Mr. Peplinski said. “There were elements of the game that were just, plain and simple, different in the National Hockey League. I think Mud really helped Bob Johnson adjust to them.” After retiring as a player in 1982, Murdoch began his coaching career as an assistant coach with the Calgary Flames under head coach Bob Johnson.The two Bobs co-developed the Flames into a perennial contender, with their five seasons together culminating with a berth in the Stanley Cup finals, where the Flames lost to Montreal in five games. However, Mr. Murdoch never found similar success as an NHL head coach – largely due to insufficient support from impatient general managers and owners. He was fired after just one season with Chicago and, despite earning 1989-90 NHL coach of the year honours, only lasted two campaigns in Winnipeg. His employment as a San Jose Sharks assistant became precarious as GM Jack Ferreira was fired after their inaugural 1991-92 campaign, prompting both coaches to consider quitting. Mr. Kingston reluctantly agreed to stay because season tickets containing his picture had already been printed. Mr. Murdoch remained at the request of his wife, Bev, who wanted to stay because their daughter Jodie had been born prematurely, weighing only two pounds nine ounces, and was receiving good medical care. The Sharks played those first two seasons out of San Francisco’s Cow Palace, an old rodeo venue with a lingering livestock smell. But he and Mr. Kingston put the team, now a model franchise, and players on a path to future success. “We had a lot of journeymen third and fourth liners that earned careers because we spent our time developing and trying to make people better,” Mr. Kingston said. In the spring of 1994, Mr. Murdoch assisted Mr. Kingston as Canada garnered world championship gold with a dramatic shootout victory over Finland. It was Canada’s first world title since the Trail Smoke Eaters triumphed over the Soviet Union in 1961. Later in 1994, Mr. Murdoch joined the Munich Mad Dogs as their head coach – only to see the club fold that December. But less than a month later, he replaced overly demanding Cologne Sharks head coach Vladimir Vasiliev and steered them to a German Hockey League title. Cologne had only finished sixth in the regular season, but Mr. Murdoch’s upbeat personality and good relationships with his players made the difference, said Bernd Haake, Cologne’s assistant coach that season. “Bob came in and it was like – whoosh – a tight spring opened and then we were really successful,” Mr. Haake said. Mr. Murdoch retired from coaching at the early age of 55 following three seasons as the Nuremberg Tigers’ bench boss. He received other job offers, but wanted to concentrate on family life after his first marriage had ended in divorce, Mr. Kingston said. “He didn’t want what happened to his first family – to have hockey get in the way of family life,” Mr. Kingston said.Mr. Dryden believes that the repeated blows to the head that Mr. Murdoch suffered while playing contributed to his death. A 2018 Boston University study found that athletes who play contact sports, including hockey, may be at greater risk of developing Lewy body disease. Repeated head trauma has been found to increase the risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy , an incurable brain disease that afflicted Mr. Murdoch’s former Montreal teammates Ralph Backstrom and Henri Richard, as well as ex-Chicago star Stan Mikita, who were all diagnosed posthumously. Mr. Backstrom and Mr. Mikita also suffered from Lewy body dementia.“It’s all preventable,” he said. “All the NHL has had to do is to say: Head injuries, hits to the head, they’re not a good thing. How can one know that a hit to the knee is a bad thing and a hit to the shoulder is a bad thing, but a hit to the head somehow doesn’t have consequences? How does one come to understand things that way? And to regulate a game in that way? It just makes absolutely no sense – and it’s something that is inexcusable.”“We, as a family, knew that we could not help Bob,” Ms. Murdoch said, “but by donating his brain, it may help the next generation; it is truly about awareness.” Mr. Murdoch leaves his sister, Kathleen; his wife of 36 years, Bev; their daughters, Katy and Jodie; his children from his first marriage, Scott, Stacey, Bonnie and Courtney; 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Please follow us on Google to support us Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Morgan Stanley Fined for UK Energy Trading WhatsApp BreachA Morgan Stanley unit was fined £5.4 million ($6.9 million) for failure to retain messages sent by traders over WhatsApp in the first-ever penalty of its type issued under the UK energy regulator’s powers.
Read more »
Goldman, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, UBS in US$499-million stock lending settlementInvestors accused them of conspiring to stifle competition in the stock lending market
Read more »
Goldman, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, UBS in $499 million stock lending settlementNEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and UBS have reached a $499 million settlement of an antitrust lawsuit by investors ...
Read more »
‘This is awesome’: Sioux Valley Dakota Nation hosts Stanley Cup“It's important to support all of our First Nations athletes and I'm just really excited that another Dakota player is making history.'
Read more »
Logan Stanley looking to re-establish himself on Winnipeg Jets bluelineJets defenceman Logan Stanley has re-signed with the team. But he says he needs to battle back from a string of injuries to earn his place on a crowded blue line.
Read more »
Goldman, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, UBS Settle Stock-Lending SuitGoldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and UBS AG agreed to pay nearly $500 million to settle litigation by US pension funds over control of the market for stock lending, according to a court filling.
Read more »