Catching Up With Series: Murray growing into a sought-after talent

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This article was published 13/06/2022 (1273 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A lot can happen over the course of a few years.

Just ask Jordan Murray.

When he entered his first season of under-15 hockey with the Yellowhead Chiefs in the fall of 2019, the blue-liner from Decker was 4’11”.

Fast forward to the spring of 2022 and the 15-year-old now stands five-foot-nine following a two-year growth spurt.

As is the case with any young athlete, it took a bit of time for Murray to find his footing, especially as he adapted to his new surroundings in the Canadian Sports School Hockey League as a member of the Rink Hockey Academy’s under-16 program.

“I think it was right around Christmas where things started clicking for me,” Decker said. “I got a lot more comfortable out on the ice and in my skates.

“I was still getting used to being this tall and it took a little bit for me just to get coordinated again, especially since we had a year off.”

Although his first season at the Winnipeg based program — which would have seen him play for the U15 prep squad — was stymied due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Murray was able to get a ton of training under his belt as he got used to his newfound height.

“In all honesty, I think it helped me out a lot,” Murray said. “Even though we didn’t have any games last year, we were able to spend a lot of time building our skills so that we were ready to go for this season.

“There were a couple of times where everything got shut down again and we were all back home, but we kept up with our training through online drills and workout routines. It really kept everyone on the team focused on continuing to evolve as players and as people.”

When the 2021-22 CSSHL season got underway, Murray had to adapt to playing against faster and more-skilled players.

The biggest change though that he and everyone else had to deal with the long bus rides that comes with being in the league, as many of their weekend showcases are held in Alberta.

“It can get pretty crazy with those 12-13 hour trips, especially as there’s times where you are leaving on a Wednesday and you might not get back until Monday,” said Jon Carlson, who is an assistant coach for Rink’s under-16 team and also serves as player development coach for the program.

“When you combine that with school and trying to keep up with what your family and friends are doing, it can be pretty challenging, so we try and make sure that everyone’s staying on top of their studies and we also give them a chance to catch up with the people they are close with once they get back from town.

“Those long trips are something they can learn a lot from too, especially if they end up playing junior hockey and they are staying in hotels or eating in restaurants in between riding on the bus. Getting your body prepared for life on the road and making sure you are taking care of yourself out there is extremely important, otherwise you are going to be completely out of gas before you get going.”

Once the acclimatization period ended, Murray became one of the top defencemen for his team as he recorded 19 points — three goals and 16 assists — in 32 games.

“Near the end of the year, I felt really comfortable out there, especially on the power play,” Murray said. “I was a lot more confident with the puck and I found that I had a lot more poise instead of panicking like I was when the year began.

“It’s a high-pace league with a lot of skill so it’s a pretty quick learning curve. Everything’s a little faster out there so you have to get used to things right away if you want to do well.”

His improvements were something that Carlson and U16 head coach Jeff Borse noted as the campaign wore on.

“Jordan was someone that we could rely on in all situations,” Carlson said. “He’s an extremely competitive player and a phenomenal skater … you could see the strides he was making as the season went on and he was excellent for us once he got back into the groove of playing games again.”

Murray’s performances were also noticed by the Western Hockey League’s Kamloops Blazers and the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Portage Terriers.

In December, the Blazers selected Murray in the sixth round of the WHL draft with the 130th overall selection.

Then on June 4, the Terriers picked the blue-liner sixth overall and made him the highest Westman player to be chosen in the MJHL draft.

“There’s not many people that can say that they were picked in both drafts, so I feel really fortunate,” Murray said.

“How I found out that I was drafted by Kamloops and Portage were completely different. We were on the bus for a game back in December and my teammates just started screaming my name when I got picked, while I was at home with my family a couple of weeks ago when we saw my name appear on the screen next to Portage.”

Jordan is very familiar with the Terriers program, as his older brother Owen suited up on their blue-line from 2018 to 2020.

He had 67 points in 85 games before spending the last two campaigns in the United States Hockey League with the Green Bay Gamblers and is expected to make the jump up the NCAA this fall with the UMass Minutemen.

“Having Owen here certainly helped as we knew that we would be drafting a player who will be committed to improving his all-around game,” Terriers head coach and general manager Blake Spiller said.

“Jordan’s an excellent skater and he really understands the game. Our scouting staff was very happy to draft him and the other players we selected.”

While some of his time during the summer will be spent helping out on the family farm, Murray will also be hard at work as he looks to make the jump up to junior hockey.

“It would be pretty neat to play at that level,” said Murray, who will be turning 16 on June 20.

“There’s still a lot I need to work on in terms of skating and overall strength, but I’m going to be focusing a ton on being able to compete against the top guys in junior if I’m fortunate enough to make a team.”

» lpunkari@brandonsun.com

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