Murray displeased at practice
It was something you don't see very often... Terry Murray stopping a practice drill, standing at center ice lecturing his players about substandard performance. Murray's on-ice demeanor is typically low-key, but early in practice today, he was clearly irritated by what he perceived to be the Kings' inability to competently complete a simple drill. The talk lasted a couple minutes, and afterward players resumed the same drill. After practice, Murray talked about the need for mental focus.
MURRAY: ``You get near the end of the training camp as a player -- and I went through it too -- and you want to just get yourself going. But you have to have awareness of that. It's important that you approach every one of these games and practices the right way and get focused and prepare yourself to start the season. That was kind of the message at the start of the practice here today. The conversation that I had was, `This has great meaning here, guys.' We have to make sure that, not only physically, but in terms of structure and system and emotionally, you have to be ready to play. That's your responsibility as a player, to come into the games and work at it to get yourself to the right point, where you can hit the ground running at the start of the season. We need some more work.''
Question: Is that the point you tried to make when you stopped practice to talk to them?
MURRAY: ``It's focus and execution. That was just a very fundamental warm-up drill, 7-on-0, passing the puck and regroup, and passes were missing sticks by four, five, six feet. This is the National Hockey League, and there's a fundamental that you need, the focus to be able to execute with the puck or without it. I thought it got better, but again, there are still areas that need to be improved on.''
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Rich Hammond has covered the Kings, on a full-time or part-time basis, since the 2000-01 season. He was the beat writer for the entire John Torchetti era and has witnessed Bob Miller singing country music in a Nashville honky-tonk bar. A native of Los Angeles, Rich has worked at the Daily News since 1999 and also serves as the paper's deputy sports editor. E-mail Rich at rich.hammond@dailynews.com.
Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews.com.
Anyone with thoughts as to whom that was intended for (besides the whole team, obviously)?
Clearly the veterans were not much into the drill.
Lay the boots to them TM!!!!!!!
It was Kopi's line. Smyth's pass to JW was way off and no one could complete a pass or bring the puck over the line into the zone.
I believe it was general displeasure. I believe I heard Murray say to the team that they had done the drill seven times, and it had been messed up five times.
To be honest TM looks like a guy(boss,coach) you wouldnt want to disappoint. I hope the players feel the same way lol
I noticed Westgarth consistently fumbling the puck...Also Brown's line at one point were passing the puck with their skates rather than their sticks.
D looked solid.
Sounds about right. They have been playing defense for so long, they forgot all about the offense. Can't even connect a damn pass...unbelievable.
Congrats on becoming beat writer rich. The kings are stepping up their pr. Luc's idea?
Why is this a surprise? Our team passing is horrendous. Passes into skates, passes too hard, passes offsides, passes behind players...this is nothing new. Find out what DET runs as far as a passing drill set and shove it down their throats for a month.
OLd habits coming threw, i just hope they can all pull it together
Good to see TM crack the whip a little on them. It's the end of training camp and I'm sure a lot of the guys are just looking forward to the start of the season...I can understand a little laziness setting in...Doesn't make it right though....
That's the responsibility of the coach...make sure the guys are on their toes at all times and doing things the right way...practice habits carry over into games.
Not an excuse, but the Fro, Zeus, and Simms line is the only line that has really played together.
Thanks for all of the posts from practice. How many fans are showing up for practices?
good article: http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/28076-Screen-Shots-Western-Conference-predictions.html
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m190/turboculture/TerryMurray.jpg
Hilarious MrMach
This is why he is effective. If this was still Marc Crawfish, he would have been yelling from day one and the team would have tuned him out.
Because TM picks his battles, he gets his message across. This can never be under estimated and not just with young players. Veterans get complacent and need their cages rattled from time to time....
Nice TM, demand perfection. I don't want to hear about this laziness crap, these guys have been in camp what....2-3 weeks? Laziness already? Are you kidding me? Step it up boys!!! No more excuses. This team is good enough to do some damage, so lets play to our potential!!