Everett Silvertips captain Ryan Murray was originally just a member of the taxi squad. Now he’s reached the big time.
Murray was added to Canada’s roster for the Men’s World Hockey Championships and played in Canada’s tournament-opening 3-2 victory over Slovakia on Friday in Helsinki, Finland.
Murray, an 18-year-old from White City, Saskatchewan, became the second-youngest player ever to play for Canada at the world championships. Paul Kariya was younger when he suited up for Canada in 1993. Murray is the only non-NHL player on Canada’s roster.
Murray originally was summoned by Canada just to participate in pre-tournament preparations, and was expected to return home before the tournament began. However, injuries to defensemen P.K. Subban and Marc Methot left Canada short on the blue line, necessitating the addition of Murray to the roster.
Against Slovakia, Murray was paired primarily with Chicago Blackhawks star Duncan Keith. Murray had 17 minutes, 9 seconds of ice time, recording one shot on goal and a plus-1 rating.
Hockey Canada general manager Kevin Lowe told CBC that he wanted to add two more NHL defensemen to the roster, so it is not known whether Murray will continue to see time in the tournament.
Murray has played three seasons with Everett, earning team MVP honors in each of the past two. He is expected to be a top-10 pick in the June NHL draft, with there being an outside chance he could go first overall to the Edmonton Oilers — Lowe is Edmonton’s president. Murray’s success with Team Canada reinforces the notion that he will play in the NHL next season instead of returning to Everett.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at NickHPatterson.
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