#16 Left Wing Garth Murray
9/17/82 6-2 205 shoots left
3rd round pick by NY Rangers in 2001 - signed
64 GP 10G-14A-24P +2 4 PP 1 GW 81 S 12.3% 121 PIM

Garth first played with the Wolf*Pack at the very end of the 2001-2002 season. Juniors players are eligible to join their parent organization for play only after their junior team has been eliminated, and the Regina Pats finished early enough for Garth to make an appearance before the Pack lost to Hamilton in the conference semifinals that year. His four regular season games as he tried to get his feet under him didn’t show us much of anything, as he totaled -5 with only 1 shot, although we did see his knack for lining up the big hit. In the nine games he played in the post season, he came alive with 1 goal and 3 assists on 7 shots and was +4, showing not only his hitting but also his timing, his sense of when something was developing on the ice (and in that series against Manchester, it ALWAYS was) and making sure he was in the middle of it – whether it be to protect our captain or goalie from disrespect, or to make sure someone on the Monarchs knew just what he thought of a team named after butterflies.

He and Ryan Hollweg were a fierce pair on the ice, more than willing to run through guys much bigger than themselves to get to the puck or a teammate in need of support. This pair of junk yard dogs was an interesting contrast to the last juniors duo that had showed up for a Pack postseason – Jamie Lundmark and Pavel Brendl. Not entirely clear on the eligibility rules, I spoke to Ryan after a game late that season to ask if he would be back for 2002-2003. After explaining that he still had a year of juniors left, he pulled Garth over and said, “but Garth will be here!” and presented him to me. Garth, utterly impassive, simply stared down at me. If Ryan was our captain of the future, Garth was without a doubt his henchman.

Originally, I thought of him as being much like Bobby Holik – incredible work ethic, strong sense of team, no patience for fools and a brick wall for a shoulder. But that was the pre-Rangers Holik. Garth has a certain amount of anger he brings to the ice, perhaps he is more like Theo Fleury without the inner voices, Matthew Barnaby without the diving, or Dale Purinton without…well, Garth is an awful lot like Dale, just in a smaller package. Friends and I felt that he might actually be a Klingon. We were all eager for this season to begin.

From the beginning of this year, though, something looked wrong. About the time that Ryan suffered what may well be a career ending brain injury, Garth’s play became restrained - like a rottweiler that is afraid of getting hit if he pulls on the leash. He didn’t hit as often, and when he did it was more often with his backside. After a feisty camp, fights were a thing of the past. As early as last fall, I started commenting on it in this space:

Garth Murray must be playing injured. In 17 games he has only 37 PIM. He has been very quiet so far this year, not his hard-hitting self that we saw in the playoffs last spring. He’s the kind of guy who would play through an injury, too. Just hope he isn’t doing long term damage by hiding it. Wouldn’t like him to remind me of Holik in any way other than his play. [Stats are Boring, December 2, 2002]

Six months later, it is in fact revealed that Garth had in fact been battling an abdominal injury all season. What does this mean for next year? Well, depends on whether or not you are the kind of person who thinks that Hollweg – released by the Rangers this past week – will recover from his brain bruise. Garth had surgery immediately following the season to repair his torn abdominal oblique muscle. Either Garth will recover fully and return as his old self – or he will fade out in much the same way that Tomas Kloucek did after one too many concussions. Garth does well on a line with a player who needs someone to create space for him (i.e., Jamie Lundmark), as he takes his role as protector seriously, and he has the ferocity to back up his words. What remains to be seen is what shape his body is in come fall. He’ll be just 21 when camp starts in the fall, so it would hardly be a crime for him to spend another season in Hartford.

#23 Left Wing Richard Scott
8/1/78 6-2 209 shoots left
Signed as a free agent by NY Rangers in 2001 -RFA
32 GP 0G-5A-5P -1 24S 0% 150 PIM

After playing with the Oshawa Generals in Juniors, Richard played the 1999-2000 season with the Checkers, the ECHL affiliate of the Rangers and Wolf*Pack. In 55 games, he had 317 penalty minutes. The following year he signed with the Pack and was called up from Charlotte in October. Playing 64 games with the Pack that year, he racked up 320 PIM with 28 major penalties that year. During the 2001-2002 year, he played only 39 games, but still managed 211 penalty minutes. He also played 5 games with the Rangers that year, registering 1 fight with limited ice time. After suffering a severe knee injury mid season, Richard had surgery and went through the arduous process of recovery only to find that the wound was infected, requiring more surgery. He was unable to return to the team that season. This year was also shortened for him by a separated shoulder that hampered his play considerably even once he returned. The one positive outcome of his injuries was that after his knee surgery, he had to learn to skate from scratch with the help of Pack trainers. In 6 months of rehab Richard went from being a lumbering enforcer who often looked out of control to a strong skater who had enhanced balance, power and control - the better to inflict damage on others.

Richard is known almost entirely for the physical abuse he heaps gleefully upon opponents. Mike Tyson has nothing on this guy when it comes to the look of pure demented joy he gets when beating someone until they bleed. Richard loves to hit, and he loves to fight, and he loves to get the place going when he does either of these things with the skill and artistry he posesses. Richard will hit people against the boards, but seems to find it lowbrow – he prefers the open ice hit for the challenge it presents and the majesty of a body soaring through the air. If he catches someone with their head down at the blueline, he lines up a hit worthy of Scott Stevens. The main difference is that Stevens tends to look as though he is just doing his job, whereas Richard clearly enjoys it a bit more than may be strictly legal or moral. However, he will take the board if it is presented to him. One time he came off the bench and headed straight across the ice for an opponent who had his head down near the box, trying to dig the puck out of a scrum. Gathering steam as he went, we watched in horror as a grinning Richard hit the guy so hard he just crumpled to the ice. Before the refs could even blow the whistle, Richard, smiling peacefully, stepped over the prone body and opened the door to the box, went in, closed the door gently behind him and had a seat. While that one hit may not have been the best, it is most representative in its simple ferocity.

And then there’s his fighting. From a technical point of view, Richard wins his fights because he can throw with either arm, he hits hard, he hits fast, and he will almost always still be throwing after an opponent has surrendered to exhaustion. I have never seen someone take him down just by wrestling, although I have seen him get knocked down exactly once in my years of watching him. Unlike other fighters, he doesn’t have to get mad to fight – he seems to do it because he enjoys it. At least, from the way he grins the entire time, he must. I saw him fight in a preseason game in New York two years ago, and took a great deal of abuse from my friends of 407 when Richard lost. I assured them, darkly, that the bout was far from over, and that Richard would get his revenge (and thus restore my good name, I hoped). Shortly after the combatants got out of the box, sure enough round two ensued – and this time Richard was the winner.

What is best about Richard is not just the skill he brings to his physical play (although having someone win fights instead of always losing them is not to be underrated), but the showmanship with which he does so. In one very famous fight in Hartford, Richard was on the ice during an all out brawl against Providence. The mob started going at it in one corner of the rink, but Richard seemed to realize that this would not provide satisfactory space or visibility for his prize bout. So, he dragged a very unwilling Bruin all the way to center ice, pulling on the guy’s gloves as he went. Finally, disgusted with his opponent, he pulled off his own helmet and tossed it aside mockingly, leaving the Bruin no choice but to drop his own gloves or lose face.

This past season, Richard also displayed more of the magic touch an enforcer often has with others. An opponent who fought him to a rare draw received a weary hug as the two exhausted combatants were separated. Prevented from taking a run at a ref when a friendly linesman stepped into his path, Richard dramatically laid his head on the official’s shoulder and allowed himself to be mournfully escorted to the box. At the skate around with season ticket holders, he started up an extremely high speed game of tag when one of the kids snatched Richard’s cap and took off with it – in short order, a mob of children on skates were chasing him around the rink, shrieking with joy. In 2001-2002, Richard was named the Pack’s Man of the Year based on his charity work; in 2002-2003 he was recognized as the 7th player by his teammates. Richard will be 25 when camp starts this year, but it is hard to imagine the organization giving up now on someone who has what they need – someone who likes to fight, wins fights, and does so with a flair that engages the crowd and further ensures that his opponents area always looking around for the lunatic. A place in New York has been Richard’s to lose for some time now, and hopefully this camp he will be healthy. Look for him on Broadway this fall.

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