He Was Prepped for Challenge

Now that the Kings have finished that nice little regular season with their quaint little high school coach, we know what everyone is thinking:

How in the world can Andy Murray win a playoff against a hockey giant from a hockey town such as Detroit?

Well, see, he already has.

Last spring.

The Midget triple-A national championship game.

His Shattuck-St. Mary’s high school team from Minnesota against the Detroit Little Caesars, owned by Red Wing boss Michael Ilitch.

Murray’s kids, weary from a five-overtime game earlier in the day, fell behind by two goals, then fought back to take a late lead, at which point the Detroit team began spearing and high-sticking.

Murray walked to the end of the bench to complain to the opposing coach.

The opposing coach spat at him.

Murray punched him in the nose.

The opposing coach staggered to the floor, grabbing and stretching Murray’s tie.

A trainer rushed in and cut off the unraveled section of tie just as Murray and the opposing coach were ejected.

From the stands, players’ parents chanted, “An-dy Mur-ray! An-dy Mur-ray!”

From the bench, the players plotted to frame the torn tie and present it to him on graduation day.

“Winning the Stanley Cup this year would not feel any better than winning the national championship at Shattuck’s,” Murray says.

We aren’t going to argue.

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To gain insight into a Stanley Cup playoff coach, it helps to talk to his former players.

To talk to most former players of this season’s Stanley Cup playoff coaches, one needs to first call agents or publicists.

To talk to Murray’s former players, one needs only to wait until after eighth period.

As they are leaving a pep assembly at the Shattuck-St. Mary’s prep school, in the small town of Faribault, about an hour from Minneapolis, somebody will call them to the phone.

Then they will call you. Collect.

“We’re all excited about what’s happening to Coach Murray--um, I would never call him Andy,” said Tony Gill, a senior.

Excited and, well, for a bunch of teenagers who thought they were being coached by Scotty Bowman, it is expected.

“He’s doing the same things with the Kings that he did with us,’ said Quinn Henry, another senior.

It is strange, talking to kids about a man who is in charge of one of our town’s millionaire teams.

Murray’s recent background made him arguably the most criticized new pro coach in Southland sports history last summer.

He was ripped before anyone on his team had laced up a skate, an easy target for those who were furious with the Kings for signing a--gasp--high school coach.

Sure, he had coached there only one year, and only after serving as an assistant or associate coach on three NHL teams and the Canadian Olympic team.

And, no, he wasn’t exactly some ice fisherman who wandered into a high school rink and was handed a whistle.

But who would have thought he could lead the Kings to the fourth-best regular-season point total in the club’s 33-season history?

And who would have thought he would end it without a trace of bitterness?

“I didn’t really have a problem with the criticism,” he said. “I am who I am.”

Just who is that?

Just listen to the kids.

They told the story of the snipped tie, although without elaboration.

“Coach Murray can explain it if he wants,” said Gill.

“Why not?” said Murray after revealing details of the fight. “If the situation arose again, I would handle it exactly the same way.”

It was the kids who told the story of the dirty underwear.

Whoever was late for Murray’s practices would have to wash it for the entire team.

That way, Murray wouldn’t have to do it so often.

“When my wife and I got really tired of washing their stuff, I would make up other reasons for somebody to do it,” he said.

It was the kids who told the story of magic markers and the music.

Hoping to build support among the 290 students in grades 6-12, Murray would draw posters and hang them on the walls before each game.

When he wanted it to be louder at home games, he went to the music department and talked the young musicians into forming a pep band.

“He was really into it,” said Henry. “Like we were professionals.”

And like he was the schoolboy.

Although he owned a large home nearby, Murray wanted to get the full prep experience, so he and his family lived in an apartment in the campus’ middle school dormitory.

That’s right, he was not just a coach, but a hall monitor, study-hall supervisor and late-night comforter to that 11-year-old boy who was missing his mom terribly.

And, of course, referee when the pillows started flying.

You think breaking up practice fights between Kings is hard?

“I felt I would be fine as their hockey coach,” Murray said. “But I wasn’t too sure how I’d be in the dorm.”

He was so good, parents of some of those children still call him.

Before a recent game against Dallas, he was taking calls from parents giving scoring updates of this year’s national midget tournament.

“Some of our kids grew up very fast with Andy,” said athletic director John Sumner. “He was so good for this school.”

And likewise.

His steadiness during this season’s tough times, his unwillingness to hedge on the daily challenges he gives his teams, his fearlessness in hanging up motivational signs in a dressing room filled with skeptical men . . . all of that was reinforced by the kids.

“Those kids taught me so much,” Murray said. “The experience reminded me even more that coaching is about caring for your players. I’ve got a certain approach, and those kids further showed me that I should always stick with that approach.”

Beginning later this week, his former players will be watching. As soon as they finish their homework.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.