Hockey often is described by those involved in it as a “small world.” Everyone knows everyone, or so it seems.
In some cases, though, players and coaches don’t just know each other. They’re also related.
Look no further than one of the largest puck family trees in New England, which starts with the MacMurray sisters from Weymouth, Mass.
One sister, MaryLou King, had three sons — Marty, Mike and Steve — who played hockey at the old Weymouth North High School. Steve went on to play in the Ontario Hockey League.
Marty had two sons, Tim and Trevor, who both played at Weymouth High School. Tim, as one of the captains his senior year, helped lead the Wildcats to the championship game of the 2007 Super 8 tournament, the first time a public school reached the title contest since 1978. He then played Division 3 hockey for four years at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire. Trevor reached the semifinals of the Super 8 in 2011 as a senior.
Another sister, Frances Giovanucci, had three sons, two of whom played hockey. Glen played at Thayer Academy and then at Northeastern University, where he was captain for one season. He later became an agent specifically for Boston Bruins center Charlie Coyle. Frances’ other hockey-playing son, Chris (Turk), played at Scituate High School.
Speaking of Charlie Coyle, who’s recorded 248 points in 500 National Hockey League regular-season games and 31 points in 68 Stanley Cup playoff contests with the Minnesota Wild and Bruins, his grandmother Gail is another MacMurray sister.
Gail had two sons who played hockey, Chuck and Bobby. Chuck, father of Charlie, was a captain at Weymouth South, while Bobby skated for the rival North.
The last of the four hockey sisters — there were two other sisters (Patricia and Marjorie) and also a brother (Charles), but neither them nor their children played the ice game — is Kathy Amonte, whose son Tony played 15 seasons in the NHL and totaled 900 points (416-484-900) in 1,174 regular-season contests and 55 points (22-33-55) in 99 playoff games. Kathy’s other son, Rocco, suited up for UMass Lowell before briefly playing in the pros. After hanging up his skates, Rocco entered the hockey equipment business, first with CCM and Reebok and now with STX.
Tony’s two sons, Ty and Tristan, are both Thayer Academy products like their father. Ty is entering his third year at Boston University, where Tony played two seasons, and Tristan is set to start his first season with the British Columbia Hockey League’s Penticton Vees, with whom Ty played during the 2016-17 campaign.
Perhaps the sport isn’t a small world after all. That might be giving it too much size.
“I’d say the game of hockey is a super small world, whether it’s just on a local town level or higher,” said Tim King, who’s now a sales manager at Renoviso in Boston. “Being involved, you get to know all these families when you play it competitively, through the youth leagues, local AAA teams, and you grow relationships. Then you see guys you played with in high school rise the ranks. It’s a super small world and everyone is grateful. Every time you play at a different rink, you usually know someone or have a connection on the team. That’s why hockey is such a unique game — everyone is connected in some way. And people really value that. Plus, there’s so much sacrifice that your family and your network puts into a career. That makes it even more special.”
When pursuing a hockey career, the perks of being a member of a hockey family are tremendous.
It starts when you’re a kid, since you have the benefit of being able to speak directly with your idols as you become immersed in the hockey lifestyle.
“The younger generation, such as myself or Charlie, can look up to the older generations, which have the foundational knowledge, teach fundamentals and know what you need to do to at least do what they did, if not exceed that,” Tim said. “They are all involved in coaching at some level and teach you the game at a young age. My dad and Charlie’s dad coached all the way through eighth grade, so they have that insight that they passed along. And then what’s even more helpful is when you get to the age that you understand what you’re being taught — 8, 9, 10 years old — and you want to be a competitive player, you are always together with your family members, playing street hockey or going to each other’s practices and games. It’s an ever-evolving circle between sharing their knowledge, passing on their love of the game and then us running with it.”
Said the youngest Charlie, fresh off a tremendous Stanley Cup playoffs showing with the Bruins: “Your family tells you about your other family members who played or are playing hockey. When Tony Amonte was playing it was like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ It makes you love hockey so much more because you’re thinking, ‘My family is famous!’ You’re immediately drawn to it. My dad played and I’ve got two older sisters who played. My oldest sister, Jessica, played with Tim King on the boys team. She stopped playing when she was older because there wasn’t a girls team and she got a little weirded out. My other sister, Jillian, skated. My dad was probably hoping for a boy for his third child, and lucky for him there I was. So he got me involved, and I loved it right away. I was the same age as Trevor King, and we became buddy-buddy and grew up playing together. His dad and my dad were our coaches. We loved it from the start, and having your family involved was really cool.”
Being surrounded by so many hockey-loving family members also makes for some memorable parties.
There are, of course, street hockey games.
“Turk Giovanucci had epic Easter parties when I was growing up and there were a million relatives there,” Charlie recalled. “We went over and you didn’t even know everyone’s names, but they have a street hockey rink, so you played street hockey with all your cousins.”
And there are also an endless amount of stories.
One of the more memorable ones for Tim and Charlie was the aforementioned Super 8 tournament.
“Tim loves talking about it,” Charlie chuckled. “He will talk about it all night, but I would too because it’s so fun to look back at it.”
Responded Tim: “A lot of guys give me a hard time about that, but it was really cool at the time, playing for your town, being one of the first public schools to go far, and doing it with your hometown friends. It was awesome.”
“He was our go-to guy, our captain leading the way, and was one of the best players in the state,” Charlie added. “I always looked up to him because he was older, bigger and better. That’s what Trevor and I were chasing after — to be like him. And our dads played in state tournaments, so you’re trying to make them proud and carry on that legacy. The whole experience sticks out and is a top memory.”
Another highlight for Tim and Charlie when they were younger was going as a family to Tony Amonte’s practices and games when his NHL club visited Boston.
“You felt so lucky to get in there and see him play,” Charlie remembered. “Going to games, putting the face paint on, wearing Chicago Blackhawks jerseys. We were Bruins fans, but for that night we were Hawks fans for Tony. He shot pucks over the glass for us in warm-ups, and then we got to see him after the game. You felt really special going down there behind the scenes, which not many people get to do. You saw his teammates walking out. It was the best.”
Now in the NHL, Charlie is on the other end of the spectrum.
“All of a sudden, you’re in the NHL and you become one of those guys, where kids are coming up to you,” he said. “It’s a weird feeling because it seems like just the other day you were that little kid. It’s very cool and humbling. People ask me if I ever get tired of this, and I’m like, ‘No! Are you kidding me? I used to be a kid. This is incredible.’ You remember when you were like that and what it was like and to be in this position now around the kids is great.”
Another benefit of being a member of a hockey family is your elder relatives know the importance of providing good articles of equipment.
“Hockey is definitely expensive, and our parents always took care of us,” Tim said. “They understood what it meant to have good gear, and if we ever needed a stick or something it would be taken care of because they understood the value of that. All of us were very grateful for that. Family members could also pass down stuff, or in some cases they had connections to equipment guys so they could get stuff at a better rate. That was huge.”
Explained Charlie: “Since my dad played and knew my cousins who played, it wasn’t like he was putting my sister and me into a sport he didn’t know about where it would take a while to figure out with trial and error. Everyone was in it together. And Rocco was a rep at CCM at the time, so he sent us equipment and sticks and the new stuff that came out. We were so lucky to have that. It saved my parents a lot of money, and it was good equipment.”
The younger players also have nearly unlimited access to the rink because of their relatives.
“I remember going to the local rink, whether it was Weymouth or Hingham, and our dads knew the guys who worked there,” Tim said. “It was easy for us to hop on the ice or get access to multiple programs because of those connections. We could also practice with each other’s teams. It helped having the resources that we had and the friendships that our families created for us.”
But between the boards and glass, and also off the ice, those close relationships often give way to something else — heated rivalries.
Being around relatives and having the desire to beat each other means spirited battles, which forces the players involved to improve their games or be the victim of the other’s bragging rights.
“When my dad was in high school, there was Weymouth South and Weymouth North, and he was with a few cousins, the two Salvucci brothers, Steve and Mark, on Weymouth South,” Charlie said. “The rivals on Weymouth North included Marty King and his brother Mike. There were a bunch of cousins playing against each other in these games, wanting to beat each other and be the best cousin or best team of cousins.”
Reminisced Chuck: “Those were huge games back then. The whole town showed up. We probably went 50-50 in all the games we played. When I was a sophomore, Marty was a senior and Michael was a junior; Steve was a senior and Mark was a junior. All five of us playing with or against each other, it was incredible. But we all had respect for each other and had family parties afterward. It was something that we used to brag about to our kids. And then they couldn’t wait to play, but by then there was no North and South.”
Another relative is Bobby Sheehan. The MacMurray sisters’ father, Charlie, and Bobby’s mother, Sybil, were siblings. Sybil married Tom Sheehan. A center who won the Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1971, Sheehan was idolized by the entire family.
“I thought it was unbelievable,” Chuck said of watching Bobby play in the NHL. “You only saw him when he came to Boston, and we were lucky enough to get tickets once in a while. We saw him at family gatherings, and he passed his Stanley Cup ring around. He was like a god to us back then.”
Said Charlie: “Bobby’s something else — funny, witty, always telling stories and joking around. He told stories of how he showed up for a road trip two minutes before the bus was going to leave with — literally — just a toothbrush, just going with it by the seat of his pants. I heard he could fly out there on the ice, just a speedster. It’s really cool having a cousin who won the Cup.”
Charlie was one victory away from winning the Stanley Cup as well earlier this year when the Bruins reached Game 7 of the final, where they lost to the St. Louis Blues.
While the sting of coming so close to a title remains with Charlie, being able to share his journey to the brink of a championship with so many of his family members is a memory he’ll never forget.
“It was awesome,” Charlie stated. “You try to keep a level head and not think too much about it because you want to stay focused and even-keeled, but it’s a lot with the media and family and friends texting you. It’s pretty nuts. I think I did a good job of containing everything and limiting the hype, making sure I did things right and took care of business. But that’s what you dream about when you’re playing street hockey when you’re younger. You want to play for the Bruins because that’s who you grew up watching, and you want to be that guy who scores a big goal in the playoffs and wins the Stanley Cup. And then to finally be there; I don’t know if it’s even hit me yet. That last half of the year, getting traded (from Minnesota) and then the run we had – it would’ve been great to finish it off – is something I’ll always cherish. I know my family will, too. They had a heck of a ride, coming to all the games, cheering. You have a lot of help growing up getting to where you want to be, and to finally get there and be able to do it in front of everyone who supported you and helped you get to that position, you can’t beat it.”
Said Chuck: “It was a dream come true for him, and a dream come true for me to see my son realize his dream and go this far. I don’t know if I can describe it. The whole town of Weymouth, my family and my wife’s (Theresa) family got behind him. It was just incredible.”
Being a younger relative of someone going on that run is perhaps one of the most valuable aspects of being a member of a hockey family since the dream of one day playing in the NHL seems much more realistic.
Concluded Charlie: “My parents always set the way of working hard to get what you want, so I always had that. And all kids who play hockey want to play in the NHL, and it seems so far away and hard to reach. But when you have a family member who’s playing there, like I did with my cousins, it makes it much more real and it seems closer.
“Because you have a family member in the NHL you think, ‘If someone in my family can do it, why can’t I do it?’ It makes that dream feel more attainable to get and then you work harder to get it because you put in your brain that if someone close to me is doing it, I can do this, too. That’s the mindset I had growing up.”
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