GRAVENHURST - When he was three, Muskoka’s own Graeme Murray suffered an asthma attack and while being treated, he contracted a virus that attacked the nerves in his lower spine and caused paralysis in both legs.
This event would shape his future in a bright way, but nobody knew it until he was 11.
That’s when Murray, a defenceman on the national sledge hockey team, was introduced to the sport — a day he’ll never forget.


“Mom brought me to the rink in Markham, I was so excited I wanted to rush out onto the ice. She had to stop me to put equipment on,” said the Gravenhurst native. “I spent the whole drive down to Markham drawing logos on paper for the team I was going to start in Gravenhurst.” He not only loved it, but he was also good at it.
At first, Murray’s mother Bernene Jones was cautious of injury, but it didn’t take long before the excitement overcame her worries. “Graeme seemed to have such an incredible sense of balance and upper body control, and I could see that he was a natural. It didn’t take him long to excel in this sport,” said Jones.

Murray began playing right away with the Elmvale Bears of the Ontario Sledge Hockey Association, practising with the team at 7 a.m. every Sunday morning and participating in tournaments. He wasn’t alone to enjoy it.
Adam Robbins has always been in Murray’s life as far as he remembers and they were doing everything together except sports. When sledge hockey came around, Robbins embraced the opportunity to play with his best friend. “He was big into school teams, but I could never be involved in those so when I began playing sledge hockey, he just started to play with me,” said the 27-year-old.


Once a week wasn’t enough for them so they managed to get ice in Gravenhurst, and purchased sleds with the help of the Rotary Club so more people could play. “Sometimes it was just him and I, sometimes it was us and our dads and other times our friends would come play,” said Murray. Near the rink, you were certain to see Jones and at least one of Murray’s sisters — Noelle, Kevan and Robin — cheering on their brother. “The girls and I stopped at nothing to make sure Graeme was able to make every practice and every tournament,” said Jones. “This became a real family project, and to this day we all get so excited.”It was the routine for a few years until an opportunity presented itself.


Opportunity


In 2001, Murray was playing in a tournament in Kitchener/Waterloo where teams travelled all the way from Dallas, and some of them had 15 players on their rosters.


His team had six.


This didn’t stop him and his teammates from winning every game and the tournament in their division. “I played every minute of every game and I won the MVP,” said Murray. “After the tournament, I was approached by a member of the national team at the time and he told me I should try out. That’s when I learned about the national team.”

Murray decided to give it a try that same year and made the national team at age 15. He spent his first season getting to the same level as his teammates and proving himself. “I was out of my league in terms of skills, speed, knowledge and ability but I worked hard to prove myself,” he said.


It worked.


Murray was the youngest player to represent Canada the following year at the Paralympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
The experience was fun and overwhelming, but he wanted more: to win. He and his team accomplished the ultimate goal at the 2006 Torino Paralympic Winter Games when they won the first gold medal in the history of the Canadian sledge hockey team. Murray wants to win another Paralympic gold medal, and his new ultimate goal is to represent Canada at the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.


“I am just taking it one day at a time. I want this season to be better than the last and the next to be better than this one and so on,” he said.


A life outside of sledge hockey


Outside of his passion, Murray also has other interests such as skiing, wakeboarding and giving presentations to schools with Esteem Team.


“I took a few training sessions after Torino (to learn how to give presentations) and thought it would be a good way to promote myself and the sport,” he said.


Murray is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts from Laurentian University through Georgian College in Barrie where he lives with his girlfriend. Next up for him and the team is the Four Nations Tournament in Japan from Jan. 16 to 22, a three-game series against the U.S.A. in Buffalo in February and the IPC World Championships in Norway in March.