Over his 22 seasons as the coach of the St. Thomas Tommies women’s hockey program, Peter Murphy has built a culture and an atmosphere where his team is like a family. They work and compete hard within the Atlantic University Sport Women’s Hockey Conference. Maintain their marks in the classroom. Give back to the community. And, oh yes, win.

“You’re developing these kids at a critical time in their lives,” he said. “In the end, if they have an enjoyable experience, the team gets along, chances are, they’re going to be successful. If that’s the case, they graduate and remember their university days fondly. I always tell the kids, ‘I’m going to coach you the way I was brought up.”

Last December, Murphy put his money where his mouth is. He worked with Jodi Misheal, the vice president of advancement and alumni relations, to establish the Greg and Laura Murphy Award, named in memory of his late parents. He and his wife, Dr. Jill Higgs, provided the $20,000 in seed money from his share of his parents estate to set up an endowment fund, which generates the money to fund a $1,000 annual award.

“I wanted to do something with it,” Peter said. “I didn’t know exactly what. And then I thought, ‘How can we do something that would make sense as a memorial to them?’

It will be presented to a player (or two, at $500 each) at the coach’s discretion. While there are no strict criteria, Murphy said it will be awarded to “someone who has pushed themselves to get better and better and better.”

By that standard, this year’s Tommies have a host of viable candidates.

But a different coach may have different parameters, Murphy said. “I want them to be able to pick whoever they want,” he said. “They have to comply with U Sports rules to make sure they’re allowed to get it.”

It will be presented for the first time on Alumni Weekend, before the Tommies February 2nd appointment against the Mount Allison Mounties.

The award is Murphy’s lasting tribute to his mom and dad, who were married for 65 years and raised six children—five girls, all born within a six-year span—and Peter, the baby of the family, born six years later. Laura died in September 2021, and Greg in October 2022. They lived a comfortable Moncton middle-class existence, highlighted by summers at their Shediac cottage and family vacation trips to Disneyland and the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, among others.

When Peter relocated to Fredericton to begin a career in government and began coaching, his parents became supportive fans, taking in games whenever his team played in the Moncton area.

“Mom and Dad were always big supporters,” he said. “Dad was always a big hockey fan…he had season tickets for the AHL and then the Wildcats. But he and my uncle and his wife…all of them would come and watch every game at Mount A and Moncton.”

His mom didn’t like the cold as she grew older and didn’t go to many games. But she always sent Greg with a batch of cookies. He and Laura were perhaps the proudest of the 1,003 fans in the Grant-Harvey Center the night the Tommies captured the AUS championship in 2019.

His mom “ran the show,” Peter said. “She was the one you didn’t want to get on the bad side of.” It was she who insisted he bring the team by the house—first their own home and then to one of his sisters'—for a meal when they were in the neighbourhood.

“If you walked into the kitchen with an empty plate and made eye contact, she would fill your plate. If any of the girls had a dietary restriction, she would do something special for them. She wanted our home to feel like a home.”

When his mom passed away, the entire Tommies team attended the funeral. That’s why Murphy wants to present the award on Alumni Weekend. Some 40 former players are registered to return, “and many of the girls present knew my parents quite well,” Peter said.

He and Jill have kept the tradition alive; they have the team over for a meal about four times a year.

Greg was a successful senior women’s basketball coach in Moncton for many years. With that in mind, if and when there are sufficient donations to fund a second award, there will be a similar Greg and Laura Murphy award created for the women’s basketball team.

Misheal said in an email: “Anyone who wants to make a donation or to learn more about this (or any) fund and how to help, the best contact would be Dionne Izzard, Director of Advancement”.

Her contact information is:

Dionne Izzard

Director of Advancement, St Thomas University

402 Margaret Norrie McCain Hall

P: 506.452.2140 E: dizzard@stu.ca