By JOE SEIL
When the first puck officially drops for Thursday's Seattle Kraken-at-Nashville Predators National Hockey League game, the irony of the moment won't be lost on C.J. Murray.

A 2017 Nazareth graduate and former hockey player for the Golden Flyers, Murray will be making his NHL debut as a linesman in that game, which will be televised at 8 p.m. on the NHL Network.

"It's really a dream come true," Murray said earlier this week. "I'm very excited."

As a four-year member of the Nazareth hockey team, Murray, by his own admission, was "kind of a pain in the butt." In 88 games, Murray "was an average player," who scored 24 goals and added 23 assists and amassed 105 penalty minutes.

It wasn't his style to get mouthy with officials, "but I went through a stint (at Nazareth) where I was a little hot headed," he said. "There was a game we played at Plattsburgh (on New Year's Day in 2016) where I just trucked the goalie for no reason and got thrown out of the game."

An isolated incident, perhaps, but now Murray is clearly more focused on breaking up fights than starting them. To suggest that he's been on the fast track to a prosperous career at pro hockey's highest level would classify as a massive understatement.
He completed a degree in Marketing at Nazareth in 2017 and returned to his native Pittsburgh to work in his family's floor covering business.

Knowing that Murray wanted to stay involved in hockey in some capacity, George Roll, Nazareth's head coach for nearly a decade, put him in touch the NCAA's Supervisor of Officials, Jeff Fulton, who is based in Rochester. Before long Murray was attending officiating camps and combines. He later was accepted into an officiating development program through USA Hockey and soon thereafter was officiating for men's and women's college games.

Next came opportunities in pro leagues such as the East Coast Hockey League and the American Hockey League. His career was put on hold in 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic, but he had made enough of an impression before that to earn his current contract, which calls for him to officiate 40 games in the AHL and 40 in the NHL for the 2021-22 season.

"I never really thought about the officials or watched them much when I played," Murray said, "but now I watch game film to see what the officials are doing. I try to be a sponge and to be observant as to what the officials are doing."

According to Roll, who has coached hockey at various levels for more than 30 years including the last 10 at Nazareth, there are three elements that set good officials apart and Murray possesses all of them.

• Size: At 6-foot-4, 210 pounds, Murray is bigger than "95 percent of the players on the ice," he said. It provides him with a strong on-ice presence and enables him to break-up potential skirmishes if he needs to.
• Skating ability: "As a player, that was probably the strongest part of my game," he said. "I was probably average at everything else, but I could get up and down the ice."
• He knows the game: "They want former players who can handle themselves on the ice."

"Communication also is something that sets guys apart," Murray said. "The best officials know who to explain things to coaches and players. The officials are constantly getting yapped at, so you have to be honest and have an answer."

The past few months have been something of a whirlwind for Murray. In addition to weaving his way through the pandemic, he attended a pre-season officiating camp in Buffalo, where he was introduced to many of his peers. In September, he was married to Taylor Hill and then embarked on a week-long honeymoon, before heading back on the road to officiate some pre-season games.

His NHL debut was supposed to be in Washington on Oct. 19, but that changed after an injury to another official resulted in a call-up to Nashville to work games Thursday and Saturday. He will have Taylor in attendance for his first big-league game.
Watching intently will be several former teammates as well as his parents, Jim and Christine, and his sisters, Stephanie and Jaime.  

"Everyone has been very supportive and is very happy for me," Murray said. "It's almost like I need to be hit in the face and wake up from this dream."