Over the years, I have seen plenty of North American players with Polish heritage come to the country with the dream of representing the national team. For them, they see the national team as a way to honor their family roots while potentially helping their career. During the early 2010s, Poland seemed to be pursuing and receiving plenty of those imports who wanted to wear red and white. None of them worked, and they barely ever played even a non-IIHF game for Poland. Except for one goalie who never intended to play for the country, John Murray. 

John Murray was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He would start his hockey adventure for the Hershey Bears and Philadelphia Flyers youth teams. At 16-years-old, he departed his hometown to play for the Youngstown Phantoms of the North American Hockey League, later moving to the Sioux Falls Stampede of the United States Hockey League (USHL). While most American junior league players take the college route next, the 2006 USHL all-star signed in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with the Kitchener Rangers. It would be a standout season for the goalie, and he earned the Jim Malleck Memorial Trophy, an award for being the Rangers’ most valuable player. In the 2007 offseason, the Columbus Blue Jackets signed John Murray to a professional tryout. In a rookie camp game versus the Dallas Stars, future NHL agitator James Neal would lay in a cross-check to Murray that separated his shoulder and broke his collarbone in two places. The injury dashed his hopes of turning professional in the Blue Jackets organization. The injury also delayed the start of his overage OHL season. The hits kept coming as Kitchener had no room for its former MVP, and the Rangers traded him to the Kingston Frontenacs in December 2008. A late start to the year would see his numbers slightly dip in the OHL. 

Murray would turn professional at the end of the season, grabbing an ECHL contract with the Reading Royals. It would begin a quick journeyman career for the goalie over the next four years. He would suit up for nine teams across the American Hockey League (AHL), Central Hockey League, and ECHL. Between all those minor league stops, he spent a season in Serbia with HK Partizan Beograd, a Serbian team that competed in the Slovenian hockey league. Murray would look again to head across the pond to Europe as he could not secure an AHL contract. It was perfect timing as one of Poland’s best clubs lost their goalie. 

KH Sanok took a bronze medal in the 2012 Polish season despite their dreams of repeating as back-to-back champions. The club also dealt with many key players departing as new Russian management arrived at KTH Krynica. The Russia management group promised a big budget and aimed to compete in the Erste Bank Eishockey League out of Austria. One of the national team stars they signed was Sanok starting goalie Przemysław Odrobny. With the need for a goalie, the club signed a one-year contract with a 25-year-old American, John Murray. 

The new management in KTH Krynica would quickly fall apart, and the club was a financial mess not even halfway into the season. Sanok, on the other hand, was thriving, especially with Murray in goal. Sanok had replaced their lost Polish stars with top imports, including Samson Mahbod, who would break the league single season scoring record. Sanok were crowned the 2014 champions of Poland. Murray’s goal of Poland being a stepping stone was successful, and he was offered a contract in Czechia. 

Although he had that contract in hand, it never came to be, as the Czech club was relegated. With their relegation, they didn’t have the funds to sign foreign players. Murray would return to Poland and switch clubs to Orlik Opole. Opole had just returned to the top league in Poland and added quite a few imports from across the globe. Murray continued to excel in Poland, posting fantastic numbers, including a .920 SV%. Off the ice, he found more than success as Murray met his wife in her hometown of Opole.  

Murray would get a contract offer from Kazakhstan during the 2016 offseason and, this time, leave Poland. He would spend one season with Kulager Petropavlovsk. That one season away was more than enough as he returned to Orlik Opole in 2017. Since that single year in Kazakhstan, the Lancaster native has only played in Poland. He added five more THL championships to his impressive resume, appearing for the powerhouse clubs GKS Katowice and GKS Tychy. Every year in Poland, he is among the leaders of any goaltending statistic. His ten year run in the Tauron Hokej Liga is one of the best Polish hockey fans have ever seen. 

After his marriage, he gained Polish citizenship. Since gaining his Polish passport, he has locked down the number one goalie role in the red and white. When you look back at the 2010s and the growth of Polish hockey, many of the best moments are largely due to Murray. Murray was in the net and stopped 51 shots when Poland beat Kazakhstan to advance to the final round of Olympic Qualification. In the final round of Olympic Qualification, Poland pulled off a massive 1-0 upset versus Belarus. It was Murray in the net with a 46-save shutout. Last year, when Poland won promotion from Division 1 Group A, it was Murray playing out of his mind again and making 29 saves against Italy. Even this year at the 2024 IIHF World Championship, it was Murray in net as Poland took Latvia to overtime for their first points in the group stage since 1989.

John Murray, or Jasiek Murarz, is a fan favorite in Poland. He has captured the hearts of Polish fans from his first year in Sanok. There is a Murray story that Polish fans always want to point to, and it was even brought up in a conversation randomly while I was writing this piece today. In 2018, when leaving a team event for GKS Tychy. A couple of men insulted Murray’s wife and then attempted to attack her; Murray defended his wife before the criminals fled. Murray ended up with a black eye and a messed up nose. This occurred after his first season in Tychy, where he helped them win a championship; it was also his first year representing Poland at the IIHF level. As one fan said, “was even in newspapers for fighting in front of the bar, defending his wife! Can’t be more Polish than that!” 

John Murray is a true legend in the Polish hockey league and an icon of the national team. He was never supposed to play for Poland, either. What if James Neal never injured him? What if one Czech club didn’t get relegated? Life is weird like that. Poland tried to naturalize many players with Polish heritage who dreamed of playing for the red and white. None worked out, but a random 25-year-old from Pennsylvania who initially saw Poland as a stepping stone worked out and defined the next decade of Polish hockey. Murray has made Poland his home, and now he faces his first-ever home after building an iconic career in his new country.

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