Abbey Murphy started 2026 with a pop and knew exactly what she was doing.
In an early January matchup between Murphy's No. 3-ranked Minnesota and No. 12 Minnesota State, the senior captain carried the puck through the neutral zone late in the first period and then decided to dazzle.
“Most people wouldn't even think about doing that,” Minnesota coach Brad Frost said. “Or have the courage to try.”
Murphy tossed the puck into the air and knocked it down between a defender's legs. It was a move he saw on social media a few weeks ago from Michigan State forward Ryker Lee, a Nashville Predators prospect. Lee and Murphy are summer training partners in Chicago.
Lee made the play and managed to shoot, which was stopped by the goalkeeper. When Murphy regained control of the puck, she handed it to freshman Bella Fanale for an easy hit.
Murphy's outstanding assist went viral. ESPN's John Buccigross called it “the biggest attendance of all time.”
It's called the highest attendance of all time. Murphy Abbey. 28 goals and 50 points leads the nation. #cawlidgehawkey 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 https://t.co/GnIJzHnHTW
– BucciOT.Com (@Buccigross) January 11, 2026
“Ridiculous,” said Team USA linemate Taylor Heise, MVP of the 2024 PWHL playoffs. “That's literally going to be called Murphy for the end of time.”
Murphy would have been a top pick in the 2025 PWHL draft, but he returned to Minnesota for a chance to win a national championship. Frost gives his 23-year-old captain a lot of freedom on the ice; that's how she chooses to use it.
“Seeing women's hockey get the recognition it deserves is obviously one of the main reasons I try to do that kind of stuff,” Murphy said. “Just being different and shining on a different stage.”
Murphy projects as one of Team USA's biggest stars at this year's Olympics. She is a hockey unicorn.
“She calls herself the Brad Marchand of women's hockey, but I think she's more than that,” said Heise, the star forward for the PWHL's Minnesota Fleet. “It's a dynamic front end that can get into corners very well, but it can also drag you and make you look like a fool.”
When he went to Milan, Murphy led the NCAA in goals (36 in 26 games) and penalties (23).
“As a coach here for 26 years, I don't know any other player like Murph,” Frost said. “I have used the [Matthew] Comparison between Tkachuk and Marchand, but I think that does a disservice to Murph. “He has the ability of Connor McDavid and a similar chip to Marchand.”
Adds Team USA coach John Wroblewski: “There's always that fine line in a player who plays the way she does, and I'm truly amazed at how she masters it. I've never seen that combination.”
At 5-foot-5 and 145 pounds, the Chicago-area native is a lethal combination of skill, confidence and physicality. Body checks are illegal in collegiate or international women's hockey, but organic body contact does occur. While Murphy pushes the boundaries, sometimes his intensity is too much at that level.
According to his teammates and coaches, referees sometimes like to set an example for Murphy. She is, after all, the player who dared to take a shot into an empty goal last April.
“A lot of times, as an agitator, it takes a long time to be a constant pest to the opposition,” Wroblewski said. “And then the referees realize it and try to take an agenda in their hands as well and try to nullify the plague. They have to earn the respect of the referees, and they have to be able to solidify that with the way they play.”
Murphy's work should say it all. She and Heise formed Team USA's most dynamic duo in the four-game Rivalry Series sweep of Canada, with Murphy scoring five goals. That includes the first American hat trick against Canada since Hilary Knight at the 2023 World Championship.
But Murphy is also the type of player who likes to chirp to get deeper into the game. Like elite professional pests like Abby Roque or Matthew Tkachuk, Murphy is known to step things up.
“Other teams have at least one or two people on their team who are told Abbey needs to be shaken. That's what it is,” Heise said. “But if you go to her, it's all hands on deck. You better hope your mom, your sister, whoever knows about you, is done.”
There was a time when Wroblewski was worried that Murphy wouldn't be able to get things back. When he took over the program after the 2022 Olympics, the Americans had a tryout camp in Buffalo in August for the upcoming Worlds.
“You want to talk about toeing the line? She had gone so far overboard that I thought we couldn't do this,” Wroblewski said. “His intensity was very strong. I didn't know if he was going to hurt one of your guys or the opponent. As a new coach I thought, we can't start the new team with this type of game.”
Murphy was one of two teenagers on the 2022 Olympic roster to win silver. Now they left her at home. Wroblewski and the coaching staff brought her back for the next Rivalry Series.
“Slowly and surely you come to understand the person behind all this, and that's when things completely change,” Wroblewski said. “She's fun to be around. She's cool, but she has a certain amount of intensity, but she's honestly a lot more relaxed and relaxed. Very thoughtful. It's amazing that when she puts on those skates and the helmet, she's a different person.”
Said Heise: “I think people sometimes miss who she is, and she's actually a very respectful human being. She always says yes, ma'am and thank you. I want you to know that she will do anything for you. She comes from a family where family is everything.”
Murphy grew up in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. The values came from her father, Ed, a United States Marine, and her mother, Lynne, a trauma nurse and former college softball player. Murphy has two older brothers. One played water polo and soccer, the other was a wrestler. No one in the family played hockey.
But Murphy once saw a neighbor playing in his backyard and wanted to try it. “A couple of days later, my dad called their house and said, 'You're going to waste a lot of money on me,'” Murphy laughs.
When he was 15, Murphy's father gave his coach permission to give him the business if he committed undisciplined penalties. As he rose in the sport, so did his reputation.
“Playing college hockey, you can get into other people's heads. And very quickly I became a very hated player,” Murphy said. “Sometimes I took it too far, absolutely. But I had Frosty there to yell at me or sit me down if I had to. I mean, it was necessary.”
The biggest difference in women's hockey since the last Olympics is the emergence of the PWHL. Americans or Canadians no longer have to centralize for training camps before the game; they all play college hockey or the even more competitive PWHL, which means they enter these Games in top shape. Jayna Hefford, PWHL executive vice president of hockey operations and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, predicted an Olympic tournament with unprecedented physicality, speed and skill.
“The game has improved from four years ago,” Hefford said. “And it will show.”
There's also a new aspect to the Olympics: The next generation of stars has created brands that connect fans before they become professionals. Murphy is in the mix for the top pick in this year's PWHL draft depending on who selects No. 1. But it's an absolutely stacked class, and her USA teammates Caroline Harvey and Laila Edwards will make equal cases.
Murphy's greatest gift is his complexity. She's the alpha superstar who dribbles pucks into the air for viral moments, and also the prototypical hockey player who went out of her way in every interview to give credit to her teammate who actually scored. “If Bella Fanale didn't touch that through the back door, then it's nothing,” he said.
Murphy, 23, is a superstar who knows who he is.
“I'm someone who likes to play with speed and a lot of tenacity and I love making plays and obviously scoring goals and stuff like that. And it's a big part of my game,” Murphy said. “But obviously you listen to the other side, that kind of annoying agitator on the ice who honestly does whatever it takes to win. That's my game.”
