NHL Head Coach
On June 14, 1999, Andy was named to replace Larry Robinson as the new head coach of the Los Angeles Kings, where he stayed for seven seasons.
His best success came in 2001, when the Kings forced the Colorado Avalanche to a seven-game series in the Western Conference Semifinals. The Kings forced the seventh game after previously being down three games to one. He garnered a lot of media attention after publicly stating that anyone on his team that wasn't going to give 100% was not to travel with team back to Colorado for game five of the series. The Kings responded, winning game five, 1–0. They made Murray proud once again in game six, when Glen Murray scored in the second overtime to win the game for the Kings, 1–0. Murray made a famous fist pump when exiting the team bench after winning game six in overtime.
On March 21, 2006, Murray was fired by the Kings and was replaced on an interim basis by John Torchetti. He provided colour commentary for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation during their Hockey Night in Canada telecasts of the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs.
On December 11, 2006, the Blues hired Murray to replace Mike Kitchen as head coach after a seven game losing streak. He coached the Blues to a record of 33–36–13 in his first full season as coach in 2007–2008. On April 10, 2009, Murray coached the Blues from a 15th place showing in the Western Conference at the All-Star Break to a 25–9–7 record down the stretch to clinching the sixth playoff spot, marking the team's first Stanley Cup playoffs appearance since the 2004–05 lockout. Murray's Blues took on the Vancouver Canucks in the opening round of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs and were swept. Murray was named a finalist for the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year during the off-season but lost to Claude Julien. On January 2, 2010, Murray was fired as Blues coach and replaced with Davis Payne.
Read more about this topic: Andy Murray (ice Hockey)
Famous quotes containing the words head and/or coach:
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