Matt Murray celebrates 2nd consecutive Stanley Cup win
Jim Murray, father of the Cup-winning goalie, says the tension of watching the game was exhausting
The father of the Pittsburgh Penguins' Stanley Cup-winning goalie says watching his son compete for professional hockey's top prize was an intense experience.
"It's not a relaxing experience by any means until they get like three or four goals ... and even then you never know," Jim Murray told CBC News on Monday, less than 24 hours after the younger Murray backstopped his team to a second consecutive Cup win. "So yeah, it's intense and usually by the end of the game ... I'm pretty exhausted."
What a special group! So proud of this team!!!!! Bringing it back to Pittsburgh!!! <a href="https://t.co/foanMtnYsj">pic.twitter.com/foanMtnYsj</a>
—@mattmurray_30After the 2016 win, Murray brought the Stanley Cup to Thunder Bay for a public celebration. His father said that is expected to happen again this year, but details haven't yet been worked out.
Murray got back in Pittsburgh's net partway through the playoffs this year, replacing starter Marc-Andre Fleury during the Penguins' series against Ottawa.
Jim Murray spoke highly of the veteran netminder.
"He is one class act as a person — heck of a goalie, of course as well," he said. "Very classy individual and a great teammate and mentor for Matt and I would suspect of all the events and memories that Fleury passing the Cup to Matt will be the one that [Matt] will probably cherish the most."
The hours since the Penguins' victory has meant a lot of phone calls, Jim Murray added.
"Lots of people contacting," he said with a chuckle. "It's hard to keep up with everybody but we'll get back to everybody as the day goes on."