Breaking The ice

Meet Tyler Murovich

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As a Pittsburgh native, the success the Pittsburgh Penguins had in the early 90s in winning back-to-back Stanley Cups was influential when it came to Tyler Murovich’s hockey career. The entire Murovich family fell in love with the game and even created a career out of it.

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“My dad started off as a competitive roller hockey player and that led to us building an ice rink in Pittsburg called the Ice Castle which is a two-sheet facility,” Murovich said. “Our whole family and I now work at our family business. It opened when I was in fifth grade, so ever since then, things kind of picked up and became a major part of our lives.”

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For Murovich, hockey is a huge part of his life and always has been. His time spent at the rink paid off when he signed a pro contract in the OHL with the Saginaw Spirit. From there, he signed a contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets organization which is something he had worked his whole life to do, and that led him to playing another eight seasons between the AHL and the ECHL.

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In addition to training and coaching youth players, Murovich is also the Director of Hockey Operations for the Pittsburgh Predators, their youth program, and owns IC Hockey which is their training program for players. When he’s not at his family’s rink or traveling with 3ICE, he likes to relax and unwind during his spare time.

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“I’m into music and cooking good food, so those are kind of my hobbies away from the rink but two things that I still get to enjoy when I'm at the rink too,” Murovich said. “I’m kind of a locker-room DJ and it's important obviously as an athlete that you eat the right way.”

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As one who wasn’t fully set on retiring from pro hockey, giving the pro hockey thing another go with 3ICE has been a surreal experience for #72 of Team Mullen. Between running a family business at the rink and simply loving the game, Murovich felt like he wanted to play his entire life. Playing with 3ICE has allowed Murovich’s hockey resume to keep growing and to top it off, he’s been finding a lot of success and championship wins with Team Mullen.

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“For me, I was a big fan of this league when I heard that it was coming to be, so to be asked to play was truly special,” Murovich said. “It never really left me because even though it's been going on five years since I last played, I still train in the morning and I'm still playing because I just love that part of the game. The part that got old to me was the bus travel overnight. To be able to do this where you fly in on the weekends and play in great arenas, it’s been a blast.”