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REMEMBERING BLACKHAWKS CENTER TROY MURRAY WHO ALWAYS WILL BE A CHICAGOAN

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Some professional athletes that play their game in your town for so many ‘X’ amount of years then linger around after their career is over. You feel like they are part of the city. They are a citizen of your town. Many athletes come to your town, get paid for what they do, and leave for another city. Many don’t even stay during the off-season. Like Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz, there is no place like home. For 12 seasons, Troy Murray skated for the Blackhawks in the NHL and was the team that drafted him in the 3rd round in the 1980 draft. When Murray finished his NHL career, he was not done playing hockey. He suited up 1 more season for the minor league hockey team in Chicago, the Wolves, who played at the time for the IHL (International Hockey League.) After 16 years of professional hockey, Troy, nicknamed “Muzz,” took another job with the Blackhawks as one of the team’s broadcasters. He was a hockey analyst giving the Blackhawks fan base the insight of the game from 1998 until he recently as he passed away after battling cancer the last 5 years. Troy Murray was part of Chicago and the sports landscape for 45 years. He is also a guy we lost way too early at the age of 63.

Troy Murray started his NHL career during the 1981-’82 season making his debut for only 1 game. His NHL career ended playing his final year for the Colorado Avalanche where he helped them win a cup. That is a nice way to ride off into the sunset because that was the only Cup he would ever hoist in his professional hockey career. Murray played hockey before the Blackhawks at University of North Dakota, where he helped the Fighting Hawks win the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey National Championship in 1982. From 1980-82 he played in 80 games for the Fighting Hawks scoring 55 goals while dishing out 74 assists for 129 points. He then would go from the Fighting Hawks to the Blackhawks. Murray was from Calgary, Alberta in Canada where most hockey players are factory-made. In 15 seasons in the NHL, he suited up for 5 different franchise which also included the Jets, Senators, and the Penguins. He had two stints with the Blackhawks. He missed playing with the Blackhawks team that made it to the Stanley Cup with the Penguins by one season which was the 1991-’92 season. The first time he left the Blackhawks organization as a player, his last season was 1990-’91. He was a center by trade. He was awarded the Frank J Selke award being the top defensive forward for his play in the 1985-’86 season. That season was by far the best season he had in the NHL. That year he scored 45 goals and had 99 points for the Blackhawks. During his career he did hit 20 or more goals in a season a total of 5 times. With the Blackhawks points-wise he did the most damage on the back of his hockey card with 197 tallies, dishing out 291 passes for goals, and accumulating 488 total points. For his career in played in 915 NHL games. Lit the lamp 230 times while dishing out 354 assists which tallies up to 584 points.

During the 1980’s and early 90’s the Blackhawks were always a fixture in the post-season it seemed. Back then the Blackhawks owner was Bill Wirtz and he was a terrible owner. The only way to watch the Blackhawks on television were only their road games and they were on cable, not regular TV. The home games were blacked out. Only way to see them play was going to the game. They were a hard ticket to buy back then. Especially for someone like my father, who was raised during the Great Depression. Troy Murray played with many great players during his time on the ice in Chicago. Like Dennis Savard, Eddie Belfour, Steve Larmer, Bob Murray, and the great Doug Wilson to name some of them. I think if the Blackhawks had a halfway decent owner at the time, his management may have went out and added to this core of players to make them Stanley Cup worthy. After being swept by the Penguins in the 1992 Stanley Cup finals, the Blackhawks went into the dark ages of one of the worst franchises in sports. It would be Bill Wirtz’s son after the passing of his father that helped get this original six franchise out of the dark ages in 2008 and 2009 when things started getting exciting again. They won the cup in 2010. That was the Blackhawks dynasty with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane which Troy Murray was part of because he was an analyst for the team. He would end up being around the Blackhawks hoisting more than one Cup during his time with the organization. Murray was also the President of the Blackhawks Alumni Association after his playing days came to an end. During the dark ages of the Blackhawks, the Wolves arrived at the perfect time. You saw Murray as the captain of the team. You saw former Murray’s teammates like Al Secord and Chris Chelios suit up for the Wolves who are still around today. The IHL folded up shop. The Wolves moved into the AHL which is the American Hockey League. The Wolves games were cheaper to go to than the Blackhawks. Many years it was well worth it seeing better hockey being played by the Wolves over the Blackhawks who were playing in front of crickets than actual fans.

In 2021, Troy Murray told everyone he was diagnosed with cancer. He still worked as a broadcaster for the Blackhawks in the last 5 seasons. He did not have the full tilt schedule he had so many years doing all the games. It’s far too young to pass away at the age of 63. Cancer has gotten many people in this world, which sucks. He will be missed on the airwaves. He had terrific insight in every game he called. He will never be forgotten wearing the Indian-head sweater and the Wolves. He was a solid player who gave it his best every game he played. Being from Canada, but always a Chicagoan in my book spending most of his life in this town for so many months a year. It counts. We lost a neighbor and I’m sure a friend at the same time. You may watch a game on the ice this weekend with a cold one. Make sure you raise a glass, can, or bottle to good ole number 19, Troy Murray. May he rest in peace and our prayers go out to his family.

WOMEN’S USA HOCKEY IS OLYMPIAN DYNASTY

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I have never really watched any women’s sports. Yes, occasionally I watch what’s going on in the Olympic games with women’s sports. Perhaps some college softball on ESPN. The WNBA is on another planet with the NBA. Professional basketball is not very good in my opinion. Over the Winter Olympics, watching women’s hockey was must see television. I tune in because the town where I grew up is where Abbey Murphy is from. She is a big part of the women’s hockey team. The month of February is the worst sports month of the year starting after the Superbowl. The Winter Olympics in Milan brought me to some new horizons. Last Thursday USA hockey had a close affair with their arch rival Canada and won their 3rd gold medal in a come from behind victory. The Women’s hockey team versus Canada is a different story than the Men’s. The Women’s hockey team is like the Dodgers, Yankees, or Patriots. A well-oiled machine that has massacred the competition for a long period of time. While the Men’s hockey did prevail this season over Canada to win the gold, but over the years the Maple Leafs have owned the red, white and blue.

When it comes to women’s hockey, the U.S. team owns Canada. The U.S women’s hockey team has now beaten their arch rival Canadians 8 times in a row including two victories against them in Italy. They faced Canada before the medal round and shut them out 5-0 in the first meeting. In the second meeting, Canada came to play battling USA for the gold and held on to a 1-0 lead late in the game. It took the U.S. team late in the 3rd period in the last few minutes of the game to notch things at one and send the game to overtime. The Americans had to take out their goalie to get the extra skater and the captain of the team, Hillary Knight, tied the game with her goal with 2:04 on the clock.

Hillary Knight has set the record in the Olympics for most goals & points by either a female or male player. She has played in 29 career Olympian games, has scored 15 goals, and dished out 18 assists for 33 points which is impressive. The U.S women’s hockey run before the gold medal game with Canada they were blowing up the competition. They won six straight games only allowing one freaking goal. Canada scored one goal in the 7th and final game. They only gave up two goals in Milan. The team had 5 shut outs in Milan. In those 7 games they outscored the competition 33-2 which is tournament records.

Aerin Frankel was a wall in front of the net for the U.S. team. She had 30 saves versus Canada which included the overtime in the Gold medal game. She is the first Olympian goalie with 4 wins, 0.39 goals against average, .979 save percentage while recording 3 of those shut outs in 5 games played. This team had it all and were rolling like a well-oiled machine on all phases of the game of hockey. This team found a way to fight back when the script was suddenly flipped on them. In OT they quickly found the killer instinct which was a pass from Taylor Heise to Megan Keller who lit the lamp for the game winner. It was their first Gold since 2018 when they beat Canada for the Gold in a shoot out at the Pyeong Chang Games. It’s the first team since 1998 at the Nagano games to go undefeated like they did in the Olympics tournament. That was the first ever Gold any U.S Women’s Hockey team has ever won in Olympics history.

Sixteen players from the U.S. Women’s Hockey team play professionally in the new female league. The league is called the PWHL which is the Professional Women’s Hockey league. The league has six teams. The league is in their 3rd season.

Another Chicago player, Kendall Coyne Schofield, plays for the Minnesota franchise. Hillary Knight is with the Boston franchise. Taylor Heise is also on the Minnesota franchise. While Alex Carpenter is with the New York franchise to name the few of the 16 players from that U.S Women’s roster who are making money on the sport they love. With the USA Women’s hockey team winning the Gold this should give the PWHL a big time boost at the ticket window. The way these women played in the Olympics it should give this league roots of establishment. It may already have before these Olympic games were played in Milan, Italy. I always loved watching hockey. The Stanley Cup playoffs are one of the best post-seasons in sports. Nothing wrong with adding more hockey to the pallet on the weekends or weeknights. These women play the game the right way. They are fun to watch. They probably care about the game more than many of these cry baby professional athletes in both genders that make all the money and could care less about the fan base. When the pandemic in 2020 shut down sports, I missed even lumber jack Olympics. I would have paid to watch something that year. Women’s hockey should get in the regular queue of all your favorite sports each year we watch. I can’t wait until the next Winter Olympics to see what this team can do. You know they will not have all their women back from this year’s roster. You know they will have other additions on the roster. Young and hungry players looking to keep this dynasty rolling.

VARSITY BLUES CAST HAS BEEN SNAKE BITTEN

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The 1999 football film Varsity Blues, you can compare to the series of Friday Night Lights. You could even compare it to the original movie version of Friday Night Lights. It’s all about high school football under the lights in the state of Texas. How some of these small Texas high schools treat their football program like it’s at a college or professional level. How the small towns close down practically to watch the home games. The coaching staffs are always on the hot seat because of the pressure cooker jobs they have as they need to win. Everybody is obsessed. Everyone eventually wants to get out of the town like the players and cheerleaders. Like most small towns, they are stuck there as they are rooted and never leave. Like playing football is the key to leaving these small towns. Throw in high school kids drinking & doing drugs after the football games like it’s a college town. Then the addition of all the twisted sex plots to the mix between the cheerleaders and players. Every team has a football player that is laid more than Hugh Hefner in these epic high school Texas football movies. The West Canaan Coyotes established a solid cast as Varsity Blues is not the worst football movie. It’s also not the best. But it is entertaining. Now the cast seems like they dropping dead like flies in recent years at young ages which has snake bitten this 90’s movie. Or perhaps Varsity Blues is getting a better following as they have already lost three main actors who played ball players in this movie over the last several years.

This movie starts with John “Mox” Moxon who was played by the star of Dawson’s Creek, James Van Der Beek. Van Der Beek is the most recent star of this movie to have passed away, he on February 11th. He was the star of the movie. He passes away at 48 years of age after dealing with Colorectal cancer. Mox is the back up quarterback for the Coyotes and is probably better than the starter. Before Mox is thrown into action when the starting QB for the Coyotes is hurt and lost for the season, he was enjoying life as the back up. He had a girlfriend & they talked about future plans for going to college as football was not his forte even though he had a cannon for arm. The Mox also had a high IQ for the X’s and O’s of the playbook, so he didn’t like to do conservative style play calls like his head coach wanted him to do so. The Mox butted heads with the head coach Bud Kilmer who was played by Jon Voight for not using the back up’s plays. You can tell early on in the movie that Mox does not see eye to eye on things with his father or head coach. A precision pass by Mox to his father hits him dead on the nose that breaks which was on purpose. Things change when Mox takes over the starting duties for the team and the Coyotes look better, but Kilmer is not a fan of how they are winning. Mox’s head grows bigger by each contest which draws friction in his relationship with his steady girlfriend.

Anybody for dessert? The whipped cream bikini in the movie Varsity Blues will always be compared to Princess Leia chained up to Jabba the Hutt in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

Two fantasies men would love to live at some point in their lives. The actress in Varsity Blues, Ali Larter, wears the whip cream bikini well. You may know her from the series Landman where she plays Billy Bob Thornton’s other half on that epic Paramount show. Larter’s character in Varsity Blues was Darcy Sears, who was the boyfriend of Lance Harbor, the QB that got hurt and was the captain of the team. Knowing Lance was not coming back on the field, Darcy quickly showed Mox everything and wanted him as her ticket out of this Texas town. Lance Harbor was played by Paul Walker who died in 2013 at the age of 40 from being in a car crash.

Lance Harbor would play a important role later in the movie. He would take over the head coaching duties after Mox and the entire team stood up to the dictator Bud Kilmer. Kilmer was a bad dude who only cared about himself and winning football games. When his players went down with injuries, he wanted to pump drugs in these high school bodies to get them back on the field quicker. The character Wendall Brown, who was the running back for the Coyotes, almost was a victim of Kilmer telling his staff to plunge a needle into his knee. The character Brown was played by actor Eliel Swinton. He is a black guy like most running backs in football. Kilmer was a racist asshole who did not mind Brown running the ball up and down the field. On the goal line the ball for the touchdown went to the white dude for the touchdown. Mox changed that mindset and called a play for his running back to get the easy goal line score. Kilmer did not like that.

Everyone loves a big fat dude that can drink his own body weight. Varsity Blues had the blind side protector in a perfect Texan named Billy Bob. Ron Lester played Billy Bob who would drive a old pick up truck that had his name on the door. He would shoot his gun. He would do anything for his quarterback playing the offensive line. He is a guy that could drink by the gallons. For dinner he probably would consume a 145 pound defensive back. He was one of the big stars in this movie as he died at the age of 45 in 2016 of liver and kidney failure.

The child actor who played John Moxon’s brother in Varsity Blues Joe Pichler went missing when he turned 18 years of age. He was last seen on January 5th of 2006 after hanging out with friends in Bremerton, Washington. They found his car on January 9th of that year as it was abandoned. He vanished without a trace.

In Friday Night Lights the series, Tim Riggins played by actor Taylor Kitsch slept with an older woman while in high school. In Varsity Blues the team finds out one of their teachers strips at the local strip club. Of course they all went to see her. She would then proceed to party with her students after her dance in the club. In the series of Friday Night Lights, they certainly had a local strip club which both establishments looked like they were on the outskirts of town. Not affecting the local Applebees in town. Texas high school football is under the lights. Along with sex, drugs, country music, and all kinds of drama. Coaches that are pressured like they coaching the pros. Finding out that for some of these towns the local high school football is all they have. As they breathe and die by it.

I have read plenty of reports that James Van Der Beek before he died raised some money for cancer in general. He autographed a bunch of John Moxon West Canaan Coyote jerseys to raise money to fight this terrible disease that takes younger people away far too early in life. In general, cancer can kill people of all ages which is terrible. It is sad in general that this movie has lost that many people already after being released in 1999. Jon Voight always plays a great bad guy in many movies. Voight is 87 years of age. I loved Voight in the series of Ray Donavan. Another questionable character he played in that. Varsity Blues did not take home any awards. It was a movie that had some really good moments. It is a movie many people that grew up in the 90’s most definitely watched. Friday Night Lights was the Jaws of Texas under the lights of high school football. While Varsity Blues was maybe that second best shark movie that you can’t quite think of the name. You know you have seen many bad shark movies trying to be better than Jaws on shark week. I rewatched Varsity Blues as I thought I had it. I may have it on VHS. I was able to stream it and the first time was still better then watching it today. It did entertain me and I did not fall asleep during it as it may have been past my bed time while I enjoyed old times. Let’s hope the rest of the cast stays healthy for many years to come to stop the snake bite from oozing anymore more venom.

KANE VS TOEWS NOT WEARING THE INDIAN SWEATER FOR THE FIRST TIME

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For the first time ever, two Chicago Blackhawks legends faced off against each other in the NHL not wearing the Indian sweater. Before last night, the only time you saw Captain Serious Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane going against each other, was in international play. Kane was born in in the United States while Toews was born in Canada. They won three Stanley Cups together skating for the Blackhawks. They came up around the same time and gave the Blackhawks franchise life again. They played 15 seasons together as they were roommates all those years on the road. They will be friends for life and eventually will be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame when their time comes. To end the year of 2025, Toews with the Winnipeg Jets were the visiting team playing Patrick Kane’s Detroit Red Wings at the Little Caesars arena. I don’t know what was stranger… both Blackhawks legends wearing a different sweater or a arena named after Little Sleazers.

At one point, it looked like this reunion of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane would never happen. The last time Toews was on the ice for a NHL team was his last season in Chicago, the 2022-’23 season. He had a 2 year hiatus from the game and the league due to health reasons.

It’s very much like when Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins leaves Gotham to train with the League of Shadows to improve his entire crime fighting skillset. Jonathan Toews did a 5 week stint in the country of India to improve his health and overall mind set with yoga, meditation, and herbal medicines. Then after his return to North America from India, he had weeks of hockey training to get back to his old form. Toews would sign a one year deal worth 2 million to play for his home team, the Winnipeg Jets.

Patrick Kane’s final season playing for the Blackhawks came in the same year as Jonathan Toews, the 2022-’23 season. Kane was traded to the New York Rangers while Toews’ contract ran out and was not re-signed because he was injured most of that season. The following season Kane would sign with the Detroit Red Wings, which is now his 3rd season in Detroit. He has already been back to Chicago to face the team that drafted him.

Both Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are 37 years of age. In the Captains’ return he has played in more games this season than his partner in crime from the Chicago days, 38 games. Kane recently returned from the injured list and could have missed this reunion. Kane has played in only 26 games but has been more productive than Toews. Kane has tallied 6 goals and dished out 17 assists for 23 points. He is only two goals shy of 500. Kane’s career numbers are impressive as he has 498 goals with 868 assists for 1,366 points total. Toews has lit the lamp only three times and has dished out 8 assists. In 16 seasons in the NHL, he has 375 goals with 519 assists and has accumulated 894 points. Kane is in his 19th season in the NHL.

This first reunion in different sweaters favored Patrick Kane’s team as the Red Wings won 2-1 over the Jets in this New Year’s Eve game. Neither Kane or Jonathan Toews were a factor in this game. The Red Wings have the better record this season as they are 24-14-3 to this point. The Jets made the post-season last season and got off to a great start. This season right now they have a losing record of 15-19-4. The reason the Jets signed Toews, was to be that veteran guy with his leadership skills and hoped they’d get something out of him on the stat sheets. So far Towes has done well on face offs. In general he has great instincts but has been very slow on the ice. Not sure how long this Toews comeback will last after this season concludes. It was a great story for Captain Serious returning to his hometown to wear the Jets sweater. This reunion with Kane was a nice story to end the 2025 year off with. Down the road we might not see these two legends on the ice at the same time. They may not be enshrined together in the Hockey Hall of Fame at the same time because they may not retire at the same time. If I was the Blackhawks front office, retiring both of their numbers one day at the same time would be very special. It would make a great finish with these two NHL legends while seeing them both together in the same ceremony one more time. While wearing the right sweaters, instead of the enemy Red Wings jersey or the Jets.