DIGIT MURPHY RECIPIENT OF FOUNDERS AWARD

Congratulations are in order for Boston Blades head coach Digit Murphy named the 2014 recipient of the American Hockey Coaches Association’s Women’s Ice Hockey Founders Award.

Murphy will be presented with the award at the AHCA’s Celebration of Women’s Hockey, which is a banquet held as part of the association’s annual convention. It is scheduled for Friday May 2 at The Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club in Naples, Florida.

Murphy, who led the Boston Blades to their first-ever Clarkson Cup championship title last season, is only the fifth women’s hockey coach in history, and fourth female coach, to receive the Women’s Ice Hockey Founders Award.

According to the AHCA, the Women’s Ice Hockey Founders Award honours “a member of the hockey community or college coaching profession who has contributed to the overall growth and development of the sport of women’s ice hockey in the United States through their enthusiasm, passion and selflessness.”

“I don’t know another women’s hockey coach more deserving of this award, given the vast span of Digit’s involvement in girls’ and women’s hockey over the past 40 years,” Boston Blades general manager Aronda Kirby said. “She started playing with her brother at age 12; was recruited and played for Cornell University, becoming a Hall of Famer; was part of a small group that helped create what is now the NCAA Frozen Four championship tournament; coached in Division 1 for 25 years and created competitive all-girls hockey in her home state of Rhode Island.

“She made history when her daughters were on the first-ever girls’ state championship team, while she herself was in New Hampshire competing in the 2002 Frozen Four tournament,” Kirby added.

Murphy spent 22 seasons as the head coach of Brown University, leading the Bears to five Ivy League titles, six Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season or tournament titles and four National Collegiate Athletic Association championships.

She has also worked extensively with USA Hockey’s national development programs and is currently a coach mentor with Slovakia’s national women’s team as part of the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Ambassador and Mentor Program to help grow the female game globally.

Murphy won a silver medal as assistant coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team at the 1992 IIHF Women’s World Championship.

For more information on the American Hockey Coaches Association and its Women’s Ice Hockey Founders Award, please visit www.ahcahockey.com.