Mike Murphy Never Really Left the Crease
A raw Junior Hockey Giants conversation on Belleville, pressure, and the mental side of goaltending
Goaltending has a long memory.
So does junior hockey.
In this raw Junior Hockey Giants interview, Mike Murphy reflects on the years that shaped him—first as a young goalie finding his way, and later as a professional learning how to survive the mental demands of the hardest position in sports.
Murphy grew up close to home. He expected Kingston. Maybe Sault Ste. Marie. Instead, his name appeared beside Belleville on draft day—a surprise that turned into one of the most important chapters of his life.
From his first camp onward, Belleville felt different. The fans. The energy. The way even routine saves were met with belief. For a young goalie navigating pressure and self-doubt, that support mattered more than systems or statistics.
The conversation naturally turns to the 2008 Bulls—one of the most complete teams the city ever iced. Depth at every position. Role players who bought in. A group that never felt out of a game, even when the odds said otherwise. Murphy speaks candidly about the playoff run, the comeback against Kitchener, the regret of Game 7, and the experience of playing on a national stage at the Memorial Cup.
There’s no nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake here. Murphy doesn’t polish the story. He talks openly about tough nights, overthinking, and the games every goalie wishes they had back. He explains how, not long after a difficult Memorial Cup performance under the watch of NHL scouts, he was named CHL Goaltender of the Year.
That perspective now shapes his work with young goalies.
Much of his coaching happens off the ice—phone calls after rough games, reminders that even the best goalies in the world give up goals they’d want back, and lessons about moving forward before bad habits take root. Confidence, he explains, isn’t about perfection. It’s about recovery.
Murphy also reflects on Belleville long after he left. The billets. The routines. The teammates who still feel like brothers. The bittersweet reality of the team moving on, and what it means to see the city embrace the next level of hockey.
This is a raw interview by design.
No polish. No highlight reel.
Just firsthand memory—shared as source material ahead of future Junior Hockey Giants episodes and books.
🎥 Watch the full interview here:
📬 Join here on Substack for this and future posts
This is how junior hockey lasts—one voice, one memory, one story at a time.
Great insight into how goalie coaching happens off-ice through those post-game phone calls. The idea that confidence comes from recovery rather than perfection is something I wish more young athletes understood. Watching my nephew struggle with overthinking after bad games, that perspective about moving forward before habits solidfy could've saved him alot of mental struggle.