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By STEVE SEMBRAT steves@leader.net
Saturday, March 15, 2003 Page: 1B
WILKES-BARRE TWP. – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton forward Matt Murley says he isn’t
close to hitting the wall, not after he spent the past four years hitting the
books.
“Hitting the wall” applies to rookies in professional hockey,
particularly those who had previously played in college. The premise is that
first-year players reach a point where their effectiveness becomes diminished
because of a longer schedule.
Murley, for instance, has played 60 games for the Penguins this season,
after having played just 32 during his senior season at Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute in 2001-02. He figures to play in his 61st tonight, as
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton plays a key divisional game at Hershey (7 p.m. faceoff,
Giant Center).
“I haven’t felt any physical stress from playing this many games,” Murley
says. “I’ve told a lot of people that it’s a lot easier coming to practice
for an hour-and-a-half instead of going to class for six hours, then going to
practice. it’s probably less of a physical strain.”
It shows in the results, as Murley has put together an outstanding rookie
season. Pittsburgh’s second-round pick (51st overall) from the 1999 NHL entry
draft has 14 goals and 32 assists and his all-around play figures to earn him
consideration for the American Hockey League’s rookie of the year award.
While Murley says he hasn’t hit the wall, he does say that the longer
schedule is one of the tougher adjustments he has had to make to the pro game.
“It hasn’t been so much the physical part, it’s been mentally getting
ready for this many games,” Murley says. “I haven’t done that for so many
games since high school.”
Even so, Murley has gradually improved, and says he has made his greatest
strides defensively.
“The first few games, I was really nervous and I really didn’t know where
to be,” he says. “I’ve settled down and I’m playing really well in my own
zone.”
The stats confirm those feelings are accurate. Murley, who missed six games
early in the season with an injury, had a plus-minus rating of minus-four in
his first six games. He has had an even rating since, which becomes all the
more impressive when you consider that he plays the point on the power play,
and power-play goals don’t count toward a player’s plus rating.
“I did that a lot in junior hockey,” Murley says of playing the point as
a playmaker who stays back at what is normally a defensive position when the
Penguins have the man advantage. “For two years in college I played the point
on the power play as well. It’s something I’m really comfortable doing.”
That kind of versatility figures to help Murley in his quest to make it to
the National Hockey League. Earlier in the week, Pittsburgh traded away four
veterans and general manager Craig Patrick says the organization would look to
younger players to fill the roster of the National Hockey League team starting
next fall.
“It definitely gives you a light at the end of the tunnel,” Murley says.
“It would really help if we made a good showing in the playoffs and went
really far with this young team here.”
Toward that end, Murley has contributed in a way that while he is still a
first-year player, maybe it’s time to stop viewing him as a rookie.
“Definitely, playing this many games already,” Murley says. “It’s not
like the beginning of the year when I didn’t know how this league was. Except
for having to pick up the pucks off the ice after practice, I don’t feel I’m a
rookie.”
TONIGHT’S GAME
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (27-28-5-5, 68 points)
at Hershey Bears (30-23-11-2, 73 points)
FACEOFF: 7 p.m., Giant Center, Hershey.
TV/RADIO: The game can be heard on Oldies 92 and 100 (FM). The broadcast is
also available over the Internet at the team’s Web site (www.wbspenguins.com).