Portledge Alum Douglas Murray Selected by Ice Hockey Team Sweden for 2010 Winter Olympics

(Long Island, N.Y.) Defenseman Douglas Murray, Portledge Class of 1999, is more than an NHL star; he is a member of Ice Hockey Team Sweden at the 2010 Winter Olympics. A native of Sweden, Murray attended Portledge School in his Junior and Senior years. The 6-foot-3, 240-pound defenseman has earned a reputation as one of the most punishing hitters in the NHL. Murray, 29, played for Sweden in the 2008 World Championships, but this will be his first time at the Olympics. Sweden is scheduled to face off against Germany on Wednesday, February 17th at 4:30 PM; Belarus on Friday, February 19th at noon; and Finland on Sunday, February 21st at 9 PM.

Hockey, played at Beaver Dam Winter Sports Club in Locust Valley, is BIG at Portledge. Among those currently on the ice are Portledge alum Eric Nystrom ’01, playing left wing for the Calgary Flames; right wing Ryan Vesce ’00, a San Jose Sharks teammate of Murray’s; Will Bodine ’99, defenseman for the CHL Rapid City Rush; and forward Garret Vassel ’03, playing for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Men’s Ice Hockey team. Other Portledge ice hockey stars have included Evan Wax ’99, who excelled at Yale, and Kenny Turano ’99, who was a four year letter winner at Harvard. Even further back are Keith Merkler ’89, a Portledge Bowl and Slanetz Award winner who was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs and was a collegiate star at Princeton, and Justin Ort ’90, who after graduating from Portledge went on to be one of the all time leading ice hockey scorers at Williams College. Louis Liotti ’03 played defense as a Northeastern Huskey throughout his four years at the university, and served as assistant captain as a Junior.

Now back to Olympian Murray. According to Portledge Athletic Director Phil Hills, “Douglas Murray came to Portledge from Sweden for his Junior and Senior years. He wanted to go to college in America, but at that time he couldn’t speak English very well, and was unknown to American college coaches. The Portledge community embraced Douglas, with students tutoring him in many subjects and helping him understand the language. When his parents and siblings came to visit during the holiday break of his Senior year, I remember they commented about how much he felt a part of the Portledge community, and how good they felt about him being here. Portledge certainly played a big part in his life as he was accepted to Cornell University, where he went on to captain the Men’s Ice Hockey team.” It’s also significant to note that Portledge is the only Long Island school with a girls’ varsity ice hockey team, started over eight years ago and still going strong.

According to a December 27, 2009 article on the website www.MercuryNews.com, “Murray learned he had made the team from his parents, who are staying with him this week at his San Jose condo. They went online to find out shortly before 5:30 a.m. Sunday and woke him up immediately. His parents didn’t have to say anything. ‘I could see on their face that it was clear what it was for right away,’ he said. Murray will be the second member of his family to represent Sweden in Olympic hockey. His grandfather Lasse Bjorn was a legendary defenseman in his home country who won a bronze medal in the 1952 games.”