The following is from an interview that was conducted with Bryan Murray in Shawville during May 2015. Those who know him are probably quite familiar with his stories but most of his quotes that are featured below, I never had the opportunity to publish before.
The house on King Street was actually built by Clarence Murray in the late 1940s. Until Rhoda’s passing in 2013, it was a huge part of family history. Ten children found their way through its doors from Laird, Barrie, Darleen, Bill, Lorraine, Terry, Laurie, Karen and Kim – and of course, Bryan.
For over a year after the work was completed, the family didn’t even live in the home. Clarence rented the place out for the extra income and the gang lived on a farm that was just outside of Shawville in Yarm.
“When we moved into the house first, I went upstairs and there was a single bedroom,” said Bryan. “I grabbed it right away.”
He laughed that particular choice turned into his biggest mistake on the farm. “It was the coldest room in the house by far. The other ones had stove pipes going through them and two or three boys or more living in the same room. It kept it somewhat warm.”
Nevertheless, the time on the farm offered up great memories for him. They would head out for a skate early in the morning and then get on the bus go to school. When they returned from school, they would go back skating and wouldn’t get off, quite often, he remembered, until Rhoda called for them to come in and get supper.
If any of the Murray boys wanted to play hockey in town at the arena, they had to walk.
“Nobody ever drove anybody,” Bryan said. “Certainly not in our family at that time, so you put the skates and equipment bag over your shoulder, you walked in and after the game you played, you walked out. It was seldom we got a drive. I remember lots of nights walking with Laird or Barrie with the wind blowing and snowing. It’s what we did and that’s how we lived. We didn’t expect otherwise.”
When the family finally settled on King Street, there was a man named Selly Langford, who lived just a few doors down from them. He had set up his own outdoor rink.
“The policy was the boys cleaned the ice,” said Murray. “The girls had the first hour skating, if there were any girls around. After that we could play hockey and [it’s a memory] I remember very fondly. Selly put up lights for us and many nights we played until 9 or 9:30 at night before we went home.”
The pull of the game was strong throughout the town. Kids also played in a swampy area called Hodgins pond. The old Shawville arena – which no longer exists – was owned by Ebert Richardson for a time. Once in a while a gang would sneak in through the windows for the chance to play indoor hockey.
TEACHER-BUSINESS OWNER
When Murray was 17 turning 18, he had been playing for the Smiths Falls Bears in junior hockey. There had even been a couple try outs with Guelph in the Ontario Hockey League. About partway through the year, Murray decided he wanted to go to school after he finished the season with Smiths Falls.
“I wanted to be a teacher,” he said. “I went to McDonald campus at McGill University for the education program. I became a Phys. ed teacher. A couple days after I graduated I got interview with the people from Shawville. I was offered a job and I moved back to Shawville and taught at the high school.”
While going through to become a teacher, it was where Murray would meet his wife, Geri. Geri was one year ahead of him in the same program as he had taken the extra year to play junior hockey. It was through mutual friends that they eventually cross paths. They went their separate ways for teaching jobs, but they soon met up again and dated and of course, got married.
“I taught in Shawville for five years,” said Murray. “I received an offer to coach hockey and be an assistant athletic director at McDonald. I took that job and stayed for four years. I came back to Shawville and taught for three more years.”
It was during those teaching years where Murray went on a fishing trip with his brother, Bill. A discussion ensued and Bill decided he wanted to run his own sporting goods store. The two made arrangements and financed a small location in Shawville. The location moved twice before brother Barrie, eventually came along with an automotive business. The two were in the same building for a number of years. Bill finally closed the shop and retired from Murray’s Sporting Goods store in February 2015. He lasted in business for over 43 years.
“My thought when I moved back to Shawville [the second occasion] I wanted to keep teaching at that time,” said Bryan. “I bought the Pontiac House with my sister Darleen and her husband and Geri. I had the sporting goods store. I was happy doing that.”
The Pontiac House dated back to the 1925 and was located on Main Street in Shawville. The building was lost in a fire in early 1981. The location is now taken over by Hursty’s restaurant.
Murray was away for most of the time they had owned the place. He thought it could be a good business though. The place had a restaurant bar, rooms to rent, dining room, coffee shop area, live entertainment on weekends and a men’s tavern.
“It was men only at the time,” said Murray of the tavern. “There was a license at 105 seats in the bar…women were not allowed in. Beer was 25 cents a bottle, then it was 35 cents and at 50 cents people were going to quit drinking. They never did. I think from February to June one year, we made enough money to pay a lot of the renovations for the main building. The girls renovated it to look like when it was originally built. It was a beautiful place.”
NHL COACH AND GM
The shift from being the teacher to a full time National Hockey League coach was actually not that much difference in working the two positions.
“In high school there’s more variety of sports, more people to interact with. There are different levels of athletes. I coached track and field, badminton, basketball, hockey…all the sports. My memories of that are outstanding. I had great athletes, great teams in Shawville. We played many of the city teams and we did very well. The basketball team was outstanding for a number of years, but it was teaching and coaching and to me it’s the same thing.”
“Moving into hockey full-time, you have more guys focused on one individual sport. You can probably push them a little bit more in player development, but they are learning. You hope you are helping them, giving them a way to play, way to grow, and a way to live their life.
“As I got into the more elite programs in the NHL, of course they are elite players, but they want to be told what to do. They want to be educated. They want to be better. They want discipline. They want to be part of a team and a team that is successful.”
When he got hired as coach with the Washington Capitals and spent eight-and-half seasons with them. He was awarded the Jack Adams Trophy during the time.
“I never even dreamt of being a general manager, that was not in my vocabulary really,” he said. “I was a teacher. I was a coach, that’s what was exciting to me.”
When Murray was offered the job with the Detroit Red Wings organization in 1990, it was only to be a GM. The day after he was hired, Murray was asked to be GM and coach and he did it for three years. The fourth year he was strictly a GM because Scotty Bowman was brought in as the coach.
Murray’s nephew Tim first made his mark on the NHL, as a part-time scout with the Red Wings. Murray gave him the opportunity.
“Tim knew everything when I came back to Shawville,” said Murray. “I said let’s find out how smart you are. I hired him part-time the first year. I gave him a little bit of money and I found out he was pretty good. He was working at the sporting goods store, him and Todd [Hearty] and a couple years later I gave Todd the job too.”
Murray moved on to the Florida Panthers as GM for seven years. The team made a surprise appearance in the Stanley Cup final during the 1995-96 season. Murray’s next stop was to the Anaheim Ducks and he returned behind the bench for one year and then was asked to do the GM job. Anaheim made the Stanley Cup final in 2003.
“I had the opportunity to come back to Ottawa [in 2004]. It was home,” said Murray.
Being a coach, Murray was involved with the players every day. The GM is the one to oversee everything.
“[Coaching’s] a real exciting emotional attachment that you have, that you are part of it. You are part of every decision that is made on the ice. The GM is you are the business guy. You hire staff to do jobs, and you oversee it. You have more responsibility. You got the budget to look after. You got the coach and his staff to look after, the scouts to look after, your other travel people and the assistant managers and all that. You are managing people.”
A day in the life of the GM usually starts around nine in the morning. There are a couple calls to make and then practice tends to be around 10:30. Some days there is a discussion with the coach. Other talks are with a scouting or staff report. The practice is watched and maybe the opponent’s practice, if it’s a game day. This would be followed by meetings and staying in touch with other GM’s in the league. Days can end around 4:30 and game days can last until 11 at night at least.
TODAY
Tim now works as the GM for the Buffalo Sabres.
“I think Tim got his work cut out for him,” said Murray. “There are lots of young kids. I don’t think it would take him a long time to be a real competitive team. He’ll do a good job. He’s a good evaluator of talent and that’s one of the priorities.”
Todd does time with the Philadelphia Flyers. “Todd decided to stay [with the organization] which was a smart move on his part.”
Bryan Murray finally stepped down as the Ottawa Senators general manager in April 2016. He still fully intends to be involved with the team as he has taken on a senior advisory role.
By: Scott Campbell – July 2016