The Minot State Beavers earned the trophy which hundreds of college hockey players aspire to each season: the Murdoch Cup. Just as they begin their year with the ACHA’s top prize, a memoir by retired Coach Al Murdoch – the Cup’s namesake – is about to debut.
Iowa State Hockey and Al Murdoch; Building A Dream reflects on the more than 40 years Murdoch spent involved with his team from Ames. When he first arrived as a graduate student in 1969, Cyclone hockey was practicing on outdoor campus ice and commuting more than 30 miles to Des Moines and the nearest indoor rink on game nights. Before long, however, Murdoch was rubbing elbows with college hockey luminaries like Herb Brooks and Bob Johnson. He and his team were traveling to places as far-flung as the Soviet Union, China, and Australia. Through Murdoch’s persistence and savvy, Iowa State hockey eventually had three different rinks they called home on campus, including Hilton Coliseum, which remains the venue for Cyclone basketball and wrestling today.
When the time came to organize non-scholarship hockey 30 years ago, Murdoch and his contemporaries had a vision that became the ACHA.
We didn’t pretend to be the NCAA, but it was important to have scholastic credibility. My philosophy had always been: recruit the outstanding students, because those outstanding students can get academic scholarships, and eventually they’ll be the ones with degrees in business and architecture and other prominent fields who will be able to support this in the future as alumni…At its core, the basic principle of the association was: let’s give people the opportunity to play, and let’s do it while they’re also getting a great education.
Many college programs used Iowa State’s on- and off-ice success as a model to strengthen their own efforts. While Murdoch might be best remembered as the coach of rugged, winning teams, Iowa State’s success started off the ice. The Cyclones fundraised, organized publicity campaigns, and made themselves an attraction for students and the community at large.
[Our printed game night] program grew from a four-page handout to have eight pages and then twenty pages. It was contagious, because it generated business for bars and restaurants and every other business in it. Of course, football and basketball had professional salespeople. For our sales staff, I would give talks to the journalism and marketing classes. I could make them laugh and see the fun of what we were doing; plus, it was an opportunity to work. Even though we didn’t pay those people, it could go on their résumés that they sold advertising and wrote stories. Well, it got to be a pretty thick program.
Murdoch was the ACHA’s first president. He passionately advocated for the ACHA while representing the Association as a USA Hockey director. Eventually he would lead the ACHA’s first delegation to the World University Games, while his own Cyclone team earned more than 1,000 wins, including the 1992 National Championship.
Retired from coaching since 2013, Murdoch has remained enthusiastic about the game and the ACHA. He now serves as an emeritus USA Hockey director, and you’re likely to still see him at rinks far and wide – even this past week in Boston at the ACHA National Tournament.
Iowa State Hockey and Al Murdoch; Building A Dream will be available beginning April 3rd. Find more information from The History Press (https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9781467153928), or consult your preferred bookseller.
