50 Forgotten Stories: 'When I Play My Best Hockey I'

Sixteen games into their 2001-02 campaign, the LA Kings sat in the basement of the Pacific Division with a 4-9-1-2 record. They had already dropped an unbelievable nine one-goal games.
Infamously, then-head coach Andy Murray "passed out pen and paper after practice and asked each player to complete the following sentence: 'When I play my best hockey, I...'
"'Unbelievable,' muttered one [player], shaking his head. Another player, asked if he'd ever penned such a document for a coach, replied, 'Never.'" (Crowe, Jerry. "Players Could Write a Book About Troubles." Los Angeles Times, November 10, 2001.)
At least, that's the story we know.
But Murray, who is currently helming Western Michigan, begs to differ.

"The beat writer at the time … one of our players was sarcastic with him and kind of joked about it. I know the player, I won't mention his name.
"And of course, the reporter writes it the next day that the guys didn't like it. The player came and apologized to me.
"It was a way bigger deal for this one journalist than it was for anybody else on our team. He didn't think hockey players should do that. That was his opinion.
"I talked to the journalist after he wrote it. He said, 'Yeah, I get it now.'
"But after you write it, it gets out there. And guys are looking for something to be critical of. I had some chuckles about that.
"I was slammed in the papers for a couple days."
Murray didn't name Crowe, but the LA Times reporter contends, "I don't remember anything about it, to tell you the truth. That was a long time ago."
Murray insists, "Nobody that I know of on the team took it as a negative.
"There was no negative connotation to it at all. In fact, it was a positive experience."
Apparently, his homework assignment was neither essay nor even written.
"We didn't even ask the guys to write it out. We just asked them to think about it.
"A lot of guys put a lot of thought into it. Other guys, we sat, and we just talked about it a few days later
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Sheng Peng is a freelance hockey writer based out of Los Angeles, California. He covers the LA Kings and Ontario Reign for HockeyBuzz. His work has also appeared on VICE Sports, The Hockey News, and SB Nation's Jewels from the Crown.