Margaret Murphy (ice hockey)

As a student athlete at Cornell, Murphy had several accomplishments. She was a four-year letter winner for the Cornell Big Red women's ice hockey team and was the Big Red team captain as a junior and a senior. In 1981, she was named Ivy League Player of the Year and finished her career with 123 goals and 90 assists. She was enshrined in the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.

Murphy was inducted in the International Scholar Athlete Hall of Fame. The women's hockey Most Valuable Player Award at Cornell is named after her.

Murphy has had records of .500 or better in 14 of her 18 seasons as head coach at Brown.[3] During the 2006-07 season, a 3-1 victory over Boston University made Murphy the most victorious coach in Division I women's hockey history. With the victory, she passed former Providence and Yale coach John Marchetti.[4] In the same season, the Bears beat Union, 6-0 for the 300th win of her career. In 2010, Murphy applied for the Brown University men's hockey head coaching job.[5]

Her time at Brown consisted of 6 ECAC titles and 5 Ivy League Titles. In addition, Murphy's players have included 1 Patty Kazmaier Award winner, 3 All-Americans and 7 participants in women's ice hockey at the Winter Games, including three-time gold medalist Becky Kellar. As a side note, Amanda Asay, who competed for Murphy from 2006–09[6] was a participant in the inaugural women's baseball tournament at the 2015 Pan American Games.[7] Murphy was the first female coach inducted into Brown's Wall of Honor.

For the 2012–13 Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) season, Murphy was the head coach and general manager of the Boston Blades. She led the franchise to the 2013 Clarkson Cup and 2015 Clarkson Cup championships, along with an appearance in the finals of the 2014 Clarkson Cup. Murphy was named the 2013 CWHL Coach of the Year and was credited as the winning coach for Team Red in the inaugural 1st Canadian Women's Hockey League All-Star Game.

During her second season with the Blades, she was recognized as the recipient of the Women's Ice Hockey Founders Award,[8] leading the Blades to the best regular season record in league play. Her time with the Blades involved becoming the first American-born coach to win two Clarkson Cup titles, and becoming the first coach to lead a US-based team to two Cup wins.

On February 27, 2017, Murphy was named as the chief coach for the HC Kunlun Red Star women's team, known as Kunlun Red Star WIH that competed as a member of the CWHL.,[9] signaling her return to the CWHL for the 2017-18 season. Serving as the head coach of the Kunlun Red Star WIH franchise, one of two expansion teams in China, the club featured goaltender Noora Raty and forward Kelli Stack, who played for Murphy with the Blades. Of note, Raty became the first European goaltender to win the CWHL Goaltender of the Year Award, while Stack became the first American-born player to capture the Angela James Bowl, awarded to the CWHL's leading scorer. By season's end, the Red Star qualified for the 2018 Clarkson Cup championship game, which they lost to the Markham Thunder. She left Kunlun Red Star in May 2018.[10]

In April 2020, Murphy was named as President of the NWHL's expansion franchise, Toronto Six. On October 20, 2020, Murphy was named first head coach in franchise history.[11]

Murphy was part of the IIHF Ambassador and Mentorship Program, working with Rick Polutnik as coach mentors for the Slovakia women's national ice hockey team.[12] In August 2019, Murphy served as the head coach of Team Americas at the 2019 Aurora Games.

In 2015, Murphy and Aronda Kirby were the founders of UWLX, the first professional women's lacrosse league in the United States, with the regular season beginning in May 2016.

On numerous occasions, Murphy has been involved with USA Hockey. She coached the U.S. National team at the Lake Placid Olympic Festival in 2004. She was an assistant at the 1992 IIHF Women's World Championships and the 1996 Three Nations Tournament. In addition, she was a member of the 1998 Olympic Selection Committee.

Murphy and Aronda Kirby, a former General Manager with the Boston Blades, were the founders of the Play It Forward Sport Foundation, which works towards gender equity at all levels of women's sports. The first annual Play It Forward Girls Sports Festival was held in August 2015 in Rochester, New York. Other individuals that were part of the inaugural Play It Forward Foundation's leadership group included Valarie Gelb, Debbie McKay, John Mayers and former Winter Games silver medalist and Clarkson Cup champion Molly Schaus.[14]

Founded by Murphy in 2016,United Women's Sports LLC is an American professional sports company based in Providence, Rhode Island. Operating women's professional sports leagues as a financially sustainable sports entertainment product, UWS works toward raising awareness of women in sport. The business model for UWS is based on the objective of Play It Forward Sports,[15] which was founded in 2015, aiming to create female leaders through sport. Such goals include providing opportunities for women to work in sports, including disciplines such as Marketing, On-Air, Production, Operations and Finance. Operating expenses for UWS includes administration, player salaries, facilities, game operations, travel/lodging and insurance, among others.

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