THE call to camp has been made to Matthew Murray.
The Thunder Bay native is one of 16 netminders invited to attend the Hockey Canada program of excellence goaltending camp June 9-12 in Calgary.
This will mark the sixth time this event has been held in an effort for goalkeepers to further showcase their talents as candidates for both the Canadian national junior and under-18 teams.
The 17-year-old Murray is one six U-18 puckstoppers invited to take part at the four-day camp, which will include both on and off-ice sessions.
He along with the other invitees will be put through their paces by a number of instructors including former NHL goalkeepers Ron Tugnutt and Andy Moog.
Murray just completed his first season of junior hockey playing in the Ontario Hockey League with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
RE-WRITE: With the announcement last week that the NHL will be returning to Winnipeg next season, pending approval from the league’s board of governors, there will a change in the record books that involves a local product.
Back in 1996 when the Winnipeg Jets played their last game, in what they thought was their last franchise history; their final goal was scored by Thunder Bay’s Norm Maciver.
The date was April 28, 1996 when Maciver scored Winnipeg’s lone tally in a 4-1 playoff loss to the Detroit Red Wings in a series-ending defeat.
CUP CONNECTIONS: Unless the Boston Bruins can rally from a 2-0 series deficit against the Vancouver Canucks the area’s recent connection to the Stanley Cup will come to an end.
Since the lockout year of 2004-05 Lord Stanley has definitely been visible across much of Northwestern Ontario.
In 2006 Eric Staal led the Carolina Hurricanes to a NHL crown followed by Dryden’s Chris Pronger playing a pivotal role in the Anaheim Ducks Stanley Cup triumph the following year.
Back in 2008 we saw Detroit win the title guided by head coach Mike Babcock who was born in Manitouwadge.
That was preceded by back-to-back Stanley Cup championships by a pair of Lakehead products in Jordan Staal of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009 who set the stage for Patrick Sharp’s efforts in helping the Chicago Blackhawks end a drought that dated back to 1961 last year.
As Boston’s director of player personnel is Thunder Bay native Scott Bradley he’ll need his Bruins to right the ship in order to maintain the area’s current run of success.
Other playoff notes include Eric Staal sitting first all-time in postseason point production with the Carolina/Hartford Whalers franchise with 43 in as many games.
Then you have Chris Pronger who is fifth in playoff points with Anaheim during his limited time there with 30 in 38 games.
The sure-fire Hall of Fame inductee is the career leading point getter among players from the region.
Alex Delvecchio is next in this category finishing up with 104 points in his stellar career with Detroit.
Pronger is also now 10th all-time among defencemen in playoff points with 121 in 173 contests as well as 48th overall among all skaters in NHL history.