Monday, December 5, 2011

WMU’s Murray Honored by IIHF

WMU's Murray Honored by IIHF

Andy Murray, who joined Western Michigan as its head coach this season, is one of five members of the IIHF Hall of Fame’s class of 2012, the IIHF announced Friday.

Murray, a three-time gold-medal winner at the World Championships as head coach of Canada, will be inducted as a builder alongside Pavel Bure, Raimo Helminen, Phil Housley and Milan Novy as players at the IIHF’s ceremony in May in Helsinki.

Murray has led Western Michigan to an 8-4-4 record and a No. 8 national ranking in his first season as a college coach. He has extensive background in the professional and international levels, as this honor suggests.

Murray is the only non-Soviet Union head coach to win three gold medals at the World Championship (1997, 2003, 2007).

The new honoured members of the IIHF Hall of Fame will be enshrined in the International (IIHF) Zone of the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

Click here for a complete list of all honoured members since the IIHF Hall of Fame was introduced in 1997. It now boasts 183 greats from 22 countries.

The members to the IIHF Hall of Fame and the Paul Loicq Award recipient are selected by the IIHF Historical Committee, Chairman: Tony Rossi, Members: Art Berglund, Jan-Ake Edvinsson, Jan Filc, Vsevolod Kukushkin, Kimmo Leinonen, Phil Pritchard, Secretary: Szymon Szemberg.