Murray Murdoch: The Original NHL Iron Man

Long before the likes of Garry Unger and Doug Jarvis, the NHL’s first ironman was a charter member of the New York Rangers when the team entered the league for the 1926-27 season. From the start of his career, the first ever game played by the Rangers, until his final game, New York’s final game of the 1936-37 season, Murray Murdoch did not take a single night off.

In the end, Murdoch appeared in 508 consecutive regular season National Hockey League games. What makes this incredible is that it was an eleven year streak. For the first half of his career, team’s in the NHL played just a 44 game schedule. That number increased to 48 for the last half.

Over his hockey playing career, Murray was a Memorial Cup champion in junior, a two time Stanley Cup champion in the NHL and coached Yale for an amazing 27 years. Yet, Murray Murdoch is a little known part of hockey history and does not hold a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame as a player or as a builder. Kind of a shame…

Murray Murdoch – University and Minor Pro

An educated man, Murdoch received a degree in math from the University of Manitoba. For 1921-22 and 1922-23, Murray played for Manitoba’s squad in the Western Junior Hockey League. He would play two more years for the University’s team following that.

In 1922-23, Manitoba travelled to Toronto to compete in the Memorial Cup finals after capturing the Abbott Cup as the top junior team in Western Canada. The series was against the Kitchener Colts and was held exclusively at Arena Gardens in Toronto. Arena Gardens would later be renamed Mutual Street Arena and was the home of Toronto’s NHL franchise until Maple Leaf Gardens opened.

Manitoba and Kitchener faced off in a two game total goal series. Each team had less than ten players on the roster in what was a vastly different game from what is played today. Murdoch’s team won each game 7-3 for the championship. Over the eight game process that included Western Canada playoff games, Murray scored an astounding 26 goals.

Murdoch’s first year of pro hockey came in 1925-26 with the Winnipeg Maroons of the Central Hockey League. This version of the CHL existed for just the 1925-26 season and featured four teams from the state of Minnesota, along with a team from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario and the Maroons.

That year, Winnipeg finished fourth in the six team CHL. Another future NHLer that played in the league was Ivan ‘Ching’ Johnson who was on the roster for the Minneapolis Millers.

In 1937-38, Murdoch returned for one more year in the minors after his NHL career was over. He played for the Philadelphia Ramblers in the IAHL, predecessor to the AHL. The Ramblers fell in the semi-finals to the Providence Reds.

Murray Murdoch – NHL

Over his 508 consecutive games in the National Hockey League between 1926-27 and 1936-37, Murray scored 84 and assisted on 108 for 192 points. Over 55 Stanley Cup playoff games, Murdoch added another 21 points.

His 508 straight games still rank 19th overall in NHL history. Murdoch is one of just a few of those 19 players whose streak started from his league debut. Now, the record is owned by Doug Jarvis who played 964 in a row. However, Jarvis played in the era of the 80+ game schedule.

An original Ranger, Murray helped New York to a Stanley Cup championship in just his and the team’s second season in the NHL. In 1927-28, Murdoch was fifth on the team in scoring behind Frank Boucher, Bun Cook, Bill Cook and Ching Johnson. The Rangers finished the regular season second in the five team American Division. Out of the overall ten teams in the NHL, New York finished a modest fifth.

The Rangers met up with the Montreal Maroons in the finals and won the series three games to two. The Maroons outscored the Rangers 6-5 on the set. All games were played in Montreal at the Forum as the circus occupied Madison Square Garden in New York.

In 1931-32, Murdoch and the Rangers appeared in the finals again, this time against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Unfortunately, New York came up on the losing end. During the regular season, they finished first in the American Division and second overall in the NHL.

The following year, Murray and the Rangers won their second Stanley Cup championship. It was a rematch of the year before in the finals with New York taking out the Maple Leafs, three games to one. The final three games were played in Toronto at Maple Leafs Gardens. This version of the Rangers was an underdog, finishing third in the four team American Division.

Murdoch got one more chance at the Stanley Cup finals. The Rangers once again competed for the championship in Murray’s final year, 1936-37. This New York team was definitely the underdog. They finished the regular season slightly below .500 with 47 points in 48 games. The Rangers placed third in the American and sixth of eight overall.

Yet, the Rangers found themselves in the finals against the Detroit Red Wings. New York took Detroit the full five games before bowing out. The final four games were played at Olympia in Detroit.

In 2009, Murdoch was named number 39 in the list of the top 100 Rangers of all-time. He is an honoured member of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame. In 1974, Murray was honoured with the Lester Patrick Trophy for contribution to ice hockey in the U.S.A. In 1987, he was given the Hobey Baker Legends of College Hockey Award. Yet, Murdoch does not have a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Murray Murdoch – Coaching

From 1938-39 to 1964-65, Murdoch was the head coach of Yale University’s hockey team. Over his 27 years as head coach, Murray led Yale to the Frozen Four just once. In 1952, Yale lost in the semi-final game to Colorado College. Colorado would fall to the University of Michigan in the final and Yale would beat St. Lawrence in the third place game.

Murdoch was just the sixth coach in Yale hockey history. To date, there have just 12 different coaches since 1919. Tim Taylor is the only head coach with more years than Murray with 28.

Murray Murdoch – Hockey Cards

Three cards from 1933-34 are considered Murray Murdoch rookie cards. The 1933-34 V129 #29, 1933-34 Ice Kings V357 #68 and 1933-34 O-Pee-Chee V304A #37 all have the RC designation.

Other Murray Murdoch hockey cards include the 1933-35 Diamond Match #47, 1936-37 Worldwide Gum v356 #88 and the 1936-39 Diamond Match Tan #50.

Years later, Murdoch’s name would pop up on the backs of a couple Topps hockey cards. The 1957-58 Topps Eric Nesterenko #24 card had trivia on the back: Who holds the record for most successive games? Of course, Murray was the answer. On the back of the 1959-60 Topps Gump Worsley #15, there was a little more trivia: Where is iron man Murray Murdoch? The answer, as we know, was coaching at Yale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Season	Team	Lge	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1926-27	New York Rangers	NHL	44	6	4	10	12
1927-28	New York Rangers	NHL	43	7	3	10	14
1928-29	New York Rangers	NHL	44	8	6	14	18
1929-30	New York Rangers	NHL	44	13	13	26	22
1930-31	New York Rangers	NHL	44	7	7	14	8
1931-32	New York Rangers	NHL	48	5	16	21	32
1932-33	New York Rangers	NHL	48	5	11	16	23
1933-34	New York Rangers	NHL	48	17	10	27	29
1934-35	New York Rangers	NHL	48	14	15	29	14
1935-36	New York Rangers	NHL	48	2	9	11	9
1936-37	New York Rangers	NHL	48	0	14	14	16
	NHL Totals		507	84	108	192	197