It’s rare father-son time on ice

As a career coach, so wrapped up in his work that he often quivers with passion, Andy Murray has missed events both special and mundane in the lives of his three children.

Birthdays. Parent-teacher conferences. Horsing around in the living room. Quiet confidences.

For Brady, Sarah and Jordy Murray, their father’s absence while he coached Shattuck-St. Mary’s prep school, the Canadian national team or the Kings meant that he missed many of their hurts and their triumphs.

“Yeah. Way too many,” Murray said. “But that’s the nature of the job.”

It didn’t make up for years of missed hugs that Murray, fired by the Kings in 2006 after nearly six seasons, witnessed the biggest game of 23-year-old Brady’s career Saturday.

But his presence did make an extraordinary occasion of the Blues’ 5-3 comeback victory in the Kings’ Staples Center opener.

Murray, hired by the Blues last December, became only the fourth coach to oppose his son in an NHL game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Brady, a small and speedy forward chosen by the Kings in the fifth round of the 2003 draft, made the roster after spending two seasons at the University of North Dakota and one in Switzerland, where his father had coached.

“It’s a little odd,” said Brady Murray, who had never been coached by or played against his father before Saturday’s game.

“It’s kind of a unique situation.”

The first time a father coached against his son in the NHL was in October 1982, when Calgary’s Bob Johnson faced his son Mark, then with Hartford. Bill Dineen, coaching Philadelphia, and Gord Dineen, playing for Ottawa, opposed each other in February 1993.

The last instance matched Dallas Coach Rick Wilson against his son, Landon, a Phoenix forward, in February 2002.

For Andy Murray, Saturday’s game was every Canadian father’s dream come true -- with a twist.

He couldn’t attend Brady’s NHL debut last weekend in London, but he got misty when he watched the telecast in his St. Louis office.

“Probably as emotional as I get,” said Murray, who later called Brady to offer some pointers, as he usually does.

“I saw him step on the ice for his first shift. It was pretty special.”

To see him from close range Saturday was even better. But 17-year-old Jordy, who plays for Shattuck, and 19-year-old Sarah, a defenseman on the University of Minnesota-Duluth women’s team, didn’t make it. They had games of their own.

Three kids, three games in three cities. Just a typical day during hockey season for the Murray family, which stayed in Faribault, Minn., while Andy coached the Kings so the kids could study and skate at Shattuck.

“I’ve always said it doesn’t get any better than watching your kids play at any level, whether they’re playing pee-wees or squirts,” Andy Murray said.

“It’s fun coaching, but that’s my job. Watching your own kids play is something else.”

He said he didn’t tell the Blues to avoid hitting Brady on Saturday and promised they would “treat him like anyone else.” Brady hoped for no less.

“I just want to be like every other player,” he said, “and that’s all I’ve ever asked for growing up.”

He grew up around the Kings, skating with them at development camps and during his school breaks. Andy returned to Minnesota when he could, often catching a red-eye after Saturday games and returning to Los Angeles for practice on Mondays. During one of those visits, while the NHL took a break for the 2002 Olympics, Murray was involved in a car accident. He spun out on a patch of ice while driving to see Brady play in Madison, Wis., and his car fell down an embankment.

Murray broke some ribs, hurt his shoulder and suffered a concussion, causing him to miss five games behind the Kings’ bench. Brady said he and his siblings made the most of their time with their father.

“It was rough, but we understood the situation,” he said. “And we had a pretty good thing going there with Shattuck. We weren’t complaining about it.”

Brady, who did not figure in the scoring Saturday, is still in a tenuous situation with the Kings, playing on the third or fourth line. His teammates, though, appreciate his work ethic.

“He’s been playing so well,” center Michael Cammalleri said. “His speed and his grit, he’s created some chances. I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of them go in. That’s a little prediction from Cammy. Brady Murray’s got one.”

Kings Coach Marc Crawford had special insight into the Murrays’ reunion: In his first game as a head coach, with Cornwall of the Ontario Hockey League, the opposing team was coached by his father, Floyd, a scout who had stepped in for the Kingston team’s suspended coach.

In that instance, the son defeated the father. “I remember talking to him after the game and saying, ‘Sorry, dad,’ and he said, ‘Don’t ever be sorry. You just deserved it tonight,’ ” Crawford said.

“That was good fatherly advice.”

On Saturday, the Murrays had their first chance to determine whether father knows best. No matter who wins any time they meet, Andy Murray can’t lose.

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Helene Elliott can be reached at helene.elliott@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Elliott, go to latimes.com/elliott.