Robert Ronald Murphy (April 10, 1933 – March 6, 2014) was a Canadian professional

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player who played for the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team plays ...

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and

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...

over the course of an 889-game

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(NHL) career between 1952 and 1970.

Playing career

Murphy played the better part of 18 years between 1952 and 1970, most notably on a Bruins line with

Phil Esposito Philip Anthony Esposito ( , ; born February 20, 1942) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, coach and executive, and current broadcaster for the Tampa Bay Lightning. A member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, he played 18 seasons in ...

and Ken Hodge, which broke the league record for scoring by a forward line in the 1968–69 NHL season with 263 points. The record was subsequently broken two years later by Esposito, Hodge and Wayne Cashman. 1968–69 represented a comeback year for Murphy, who had missed most of the preceding two seasons following multiple operations on a chronically bad shoulder, and he initially retired after that season. His health improving over the summer, Murphy rejoined the Bruins for the beginning of the 1970 season, but recurrences of his chronic injuries reduced him to spot duty over 20 games, and he retired for good in March 1970. Murphy's career was nearly cut short late in the second period of a

' 3–1 victory over the

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on December 20, 1953. During a stick-swinging incident with Montreal's Boom Boom Geoffrion, the then-20-year-old left wing sustained a broken jaw and

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brief ...

after Geoffrion took a two-handed swing and made contact with the left side of Murphy's face. Murphy was suspended for five games for his role in the incident, but the injuries cost him the remainder of the season. Geoffrion was banned from all matches between the two teams for the rest of the campaign. The incident was recorded on black-and-white film used by Rangers coach Frank Boucher. The footage was discovered in 2011 when MSG Media moved its film and videotape archive out of Madison Square Garden while the building was undergoing renovations.

Post-playing career

After his retirement he coached the

Kitchener Rangers The Kitchener Rangers are a major junior ice hockey team based in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Midwest Division of the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League. The Rangers have won the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHL ...

of the

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. He was with

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-winning teams with the Black Hawks in 1961 and the Bruins in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

. Murphy died on March 6, 2014, at the age of 80.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

References

External links

*
Picture of Ron Murphy's Name on the 1970 Stanley Cup Plaque
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Ron 1933 births 2014 deaths Boston Bruins players Canadian ice hockey coaches Canadian ice hockey left wingers Chicago Blackhawks players Cincinnati Mohawks (AHL) players Detroit Red Wings players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Guelph Biltmore Mad Hatters players Kitchener Rangers coaches New York Rangers players Oklahoma City Blazers (1965–1977) players Providence Reds players Saskatoon Quakers players Ice hockey people from Hamilton, Ontario Stanley Cup champions 20th-century Canadian sportsmen