The potlicker is about to be roasted in the hot seat.
And it’s only fitting the Okotoks Jr. Oilers, in conjunction with the Calgary Flames Alumni, are hosting the Jim ‘Bearcat’ Murray 80th Birthday Roast on Nov. 15 at the Foothills Centennial Centre in Okotoks.
“It does my heart good to be able to help them because I was an Oiler way back when I was 16 years old and in those days it was Senior hockey,” Murray said. “I played for them for many years and then I was coaching them and I had to quit because I had been offered this job to be a trainer.”
The decision would launch a career worthy of the hall-of-fame.
The former athletic trainer was inducted into the Professional Hockey Trainers Society’s wing of the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009.
For his latest honour, commemorating his 80th birthday, Murray is no stranger to being roasted. It’s a privilege he’s received on two prior occasions by a minor hockey team and then a volleyball club at the University of Calgary in the late 90s.
“Kenny Newans at the time was running it and they sold that place out, it was a huge roast,” Murray said.
“I had a great time, I was quite impressed with some of the people they had roasting me.”
Two of Bearcat’s favourite presenters were Calgary Flames alumni Colin Patterson and Perry Berezan, who will be the master of ceremonies for the Nov. 15 roast and joined by fellow-alumni Paul Kruse and Jamie Macoun.
“Berezan and Patterson did a comedy skit about me,” Murray said. “I requested them because they did such a good job and enjoy it so much.”
Murray said he’s also expecting to hear a speech from Doug Fraser about their younger days in Okotoks along with anecdotes from his storied career as a trainer with the Calgary Centennials, Wranglers, Cowboys, Stampeders and his 15-years on the Flames’ bench.
“The biggest one probably is when I was on the ice in ’88 when we were playing L.A. in the Stanley Cup playoffs and I was on the ice when we scored a goal,” Murray said. “There are quite a few others like that.
“I was goofy in my younger years,” he joked.
Murray found his calling as a self-taught athletic trainer after dealing with several traumatic events early on in his career with the Centennials of the former Western Canada Hockey League.
“I had two or three really bad incidents of injuries and looked after them very well, I was quite impressed with myself and the teaching that I had,” Murray said. “It was Regina or Saskatoon and one of their players was laying on the ice and he hit Bobby Nystrom’s skates and went into convulsions.”
When the opposition trainer was nowhere to be found on the bench and couldn’t be let on the ice from the gate, Murray sprang into action.
“I just jumped out there and looked after him and brought him out of the convulsions and every thing was tickety-boo,” Murray said. “It’s something I never had to do, but I had trained myself mentally for that kind of situation which I learned way back as a kid in Okotoks from other peers and Elmer Piper was one who taught me as a hockey player unexpected things that would happen.”
Murray won’t be quite as prepared for what he will see at the roast.
“From what I hear there’s going to be some great stories from over Bearcat’s career,” said Oilers’ business manager Dallas Hand. “It will be a good light hearted event over the night and there will be some good auctions up for bid.”
Hand said there could also be some current NHLers making an appearance.
“With the lockout situation we could definitely have some bigger names coming,” Hand said.
Doors open at the Foothills Centennial Centre at 6 p.m. followed by the dinner, the program as well as a silent auction and raffle throughout the evening.
Tickets for the event are $100 per person in tables of eight. They can be reserved through the Oilers business office at 995-2255, via email at [email protected] or through an online registration form at www.okotoksoilers.ca.
The roast is a fundraiser for the non-profit Okotoks Jr. A Oilers with 100 per cent of the proceeds going to the organization.
“It’s a huge event for us,” Hand said. “We’ve got to constantly find ways throughout the year to raise money and this is a time of the year when money is kind of at a standstill.
“We’ve got to find ways to make that up and this is certainly one of those ways that we’re hoping will boost our operating budget.”
For more information go to www.okotoksoilers.ca.
