An interested observer

Terry Murray spent part of the Olympic break at his home in Maine and got to spend time with his wife and daughters, an in-season rarity for anyone involved with the NHL. Before the break, Murray had said he wouldn’t go out of his way to watch the Olympic hockey games, but today Murray said he was, rather coincidentally, able to catch more games than he anticipated, and was happy with what he saw…

MURRAY: “I’ve been watching some of the games. Flying back, I flew Virgin America, and they’ve got satellite TV on there. I was able to watch two hockey games on the way back. So I have been watching, and it’s been pretty exciting. Team USA beating Canada was such an emotional game, great efforts, exciting hockey. I was real happy with all of our players. Zeus is playing really well with the Slovaks, a huge part of that team.

“Doughty has been absolutely tremendous on the back end for Canada. He looks like he’s been there for several years. He just fits in with those world-class players, playing the game at a high speed. Same with Brownie there, my goodness. Brownie is playing on the left side, but playing very well. A very big presence on that team. So I’ve caught quite a few games, more than I would have expected. It wasn’t like I was going after the games. They just happened to be there.”

To follow up, I asked Murray if he thought Canada got even more than it expected from Doughty, who has become an important part of the team’s defense despite being, at age 20, the youngest player on the roster…

MURRAY: “Sure, absolutely. Going in, they were looking at him as the seventh guy on the back end. There’s no doubt that there was a little aprehension. They obviously put him on the team, so they were pretty sure what they were getting, but to now see him step up and make the plays and do the things that he’s doing, he’s become a very important guy on the back end. I’m sure today, against the Russians, he’s going to have real important minutes in that game.”