On the Offensive

Freshman James Murphy, Hudson Valley’s star hockey player, leads the nation in goals scored with 32 on the season. His teammate on the offensive line, Billy Huber shares the lead with Murphy in totals points with 51.

Murphy, coming from Long Island, New York, starts his collegiate career here at Hudson Valley on the starting line for the Vikings hockey team, and has made a big impression, leading his team to nationals.

“I believe I’m a big leader on offense. When it comes to offense, Billy and I are there to do our jobs,” Murphy said.

“He leads this team by example and to have a kid like that on your team, every coach wants one, he wants 22 of them,” said Head Coach Matt Alvey.

The Hudson Valley hockey team is on its way to nationals in the upcoming week getting much help from offensive power house Murphy.

“We are doing pretty good. We can work on a few things still, our defense especially. Other than that, our offense is there and our goalies are there,” said Murphy.

Murphy won the Region III co-athlete of the week. “It feels good to get these honors, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” said Murphy.

Murphy is third on the all-time record list for Hudson Valley in goals in a single season, and is only 21 goals away from joining former player, Jim Sturges, for the most career goals with 51 goals.

Murphy has his own routine and goes out for each game very similarly to keep the rhythm of the season going. “I go in with the same mentality, just like to be calm before each game, and go out and do what we have to do,” said Murphy.

Coming out of high school, Murphy says the college level is a different environment. “It’s a lot different. The pace of the game is a lot quicker, and it’s just a faster game,” said Murphy.

Murphy did not think twice about coming to Hudson Valley and missing the chance to play for Alvey.

“I heard it was a good program, Coach Alvey has a nice background, and I just thought it would be a great fit,” said Murphy.

“Murphy has been great for us all season. He’s a fantastic hockey player. He always has a great look at scoring goals. He’s not only able to score goals, but his work ethic is one of the best I’ve ever had here in my career,” Alvey said.

Murphy and the Vikings will travel to Monroe on Feb. 23, where they will play Williston State College. Along with the rest of the teammates, Murphy’s big goal is to win it all.

“Our job is to go play our game, keep it simple, and the goal is to win it all,” said Murphy.