VANCOUVER – UBC Thunderbirds All-Canadian defenceman
Kelly Murray will begin her professional hockey career with the Calgary Inferno, after being selected 12th overall in the second round of the Canadian Women's Hockey League entry draft on Sunday afternoon.
The Medicine Hat, Alberta native spent the last three seasons with the UBC Thunderbirds, after transferring from the NCAA's Cornell University. She was a first-team All-Star for both U SPORTS and Canada West in 2016-17, as well as a finalist for UBC's Marilyn Pomfret Award as Most Outstanding Female Athlete.
"It feels amazing," said Murray via phone from the Hockey Hall of Fame's Doc Seaman Centre in Toronto. "I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to continue playing in my home province."
Being drafted is just another accomplishment in what's been an incredibly successful 2017 for Murray. In January she played for Team Canada at the 28th Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazahkstan before returning to the T-Birds and leading them to a second consecutive Canada West title and finally a bronze medal at the U SPORTS national championship. Murray was named a first-team all-star for her efforts at the national tournament held in Kingston, Ontario.
"Kelly continues to make us proud and represent our program with a very high compete level and classiness," said UBC head coach
Graham Thomas. "I am not surprised she is having a lot of success as she is extremely dedicated, motivated and works extremely hard to continue to make herself better. We wish her the best of luck with the Inferno this year and know she will continue to do great things in her career."
Murray is also coming off a very strong Hockey Canada Development Camp, where she was a captain of the U SPORTS All-Star teamed that participated in the tournament. The strong showing at the camp has Murray driving towards a goal of one day wearing the maple leaf for Canada's senior women's team.
"You have to face the fact that you can't live off the salary in women's professional hockey in this moment, hopefully in the years to come that will change," explained Murray. "Women play professional hockey for the love of the game and wearing that maple leaf on your jersey is still the end goal."
The Calgary Inferno begin their 2017-18 season in October. The league consists of six teams including the Kunlun Red Star, an expansion franchise based out of Beijing, China, which will begin play in the CWHL this upcoming season.
