QUEBEC CITY, Quebec -- In January 2015, when details were unveiled of how the upcoming World Cup of Hockey would include a Team North America squad, consisting of players under 24 years old, Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Matt Murray wasn't necessarily the first goalie who came to mind when thinking about best-on-best hockey.
At that point, he was still in the middle of his first full season as an American Hockey League goalie, one that was going quite well. When he saw the announcement, making the team became a personal goal for Murray -- but he also was realistic about his standing in the hockey world.
"I remember thinking I was probably an afterthought for this team," Murray said after the final practice before Team North America's first World Cup pre-tournament game. "I was probably on the outside looking in."
Anaheim Ducks goalie John Gibson, 23, had the pedigree. He was a second-round pick who came up through the U.S. development program and looked great in four postseason games with the Anaheim Ducks in 2014.
Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, 23, later staked his claim to the job while leading Team USA to the bronze medal in the 2015 World Championships, making 39 saves in a shutout against the Czech Republic.
Murray was, at best, No. 3 on the list. Even when he was officially named to the roster in March, he had played only a few NHL games.
As hockey fans know, last spring changed everything. For Murray and for the hopes of Team North America.
His performance during the Stanley Cup playoffs not only helped the Pittsburgh Penguins raise the Stanley Cup, it made him the most important player on Team North America.
His team has the skill to win it all. In Murray, it now has a goalie who has proven he can do it.
"He was just having his day with the Cup a month and a half ago," said Team North America assistant coach Jon Cooper, whose Tampa Bay Lightning team Murray helped eliminate in the Eastern Conference finals.
In doing so, the goalie became one of the few players on this young roster to have his own day with the Cup.
"Between him and Brandon Saad, do we have anybody else?" Cooper asked.
Nope.
"Those are our Cup winners, right there," Cooper said. "Ultimately, those two guys have something that none of us have. Even our coaching staff."
That experience is the great equalizer in this tournament.
When he goes against the best World Cup goalies from other countries, he can do so with the confidence that he's accomplished something most of them haven't.
"Last time I looked, Henrik Lundqvist hasn't won a Cup. Neither has Carey Price," said one NHL goalie coach when asked if Murray could hang with the world's best. "So yeah, there are great goalies -- but they haven't won for one reason or another."
That's Murray's advantage.
His disadvantage is that he doesn't have a large pool of NHL games from which to draw experience. Although it sounds crazy, Murray has only played in 13 NHL regular-season games. He hardly knows anyone on this team mostly because he's still breaking into the league. He was in a couple of Hockey Canada tryout camps with guys such as Morgan Rielly and Aaron Ekblad, but that's it.
The guys on the team who are familiar with him, know him only because he knocked them out of the postseason last spring.
"He didn't really have that one mistake in a game," said New York Rangers forward J.T. Miller, whose team lost to Murray and the Penguins in the first round. "He never gave us a chance to get momentum. He played unbelievable."
Two rounds later, Murray knocked out Jonathan Drouin and the Lightning.
"He's so calm," Drouin said this week of his new teammate. "He's kind of Carey Price-like. He waits for the puck to hit him. He's relaxed. You can see it in practice."
Team North America coach Todd McLellan wasn't committing to any of his three goalies on Wednesday. His goal in the pre-tournament games is to get two goalies playing well and go from there.
It's not out of the question that one of the others, especially Gibson, seizes the opportunity. The players from the Western Conference who know Gibson also realize he's capable.
"He's underrated," the Colorado Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon said of Gibson. "There's a reason they traded Frederik Andersen and not Gibson."
There's a growing feeling this Team North America squad could make noise as an underdog. They're loaded with talent. They'll be the best skating team in the tournament. They're confident.
They're also going to make mistakes. The forwards don't have the polished two-way game of their more experienced counterparts on other teams. As skilled as the Team North America forwards are, there isn't a Ryan Kesler or Jonathan Toews in the bunch.
The penalty kill will end up employing players better known for offense than defense. It's just the way the roster is constructed.
It's why the hopes might just hinge on Murray.
"The North American team will attack the puck a lot, but they might make more mistakes than anyone else," said the goalie coach. "He's going to have to be a goalie who makes timely, timely saves."
He's done it on the biggest stage there is in hockey, leading the Penguins to a Stanley Cup. In early August, his attention shifted from what he's done in his short career to what he still hopes to do.
In the short term, it's play well enough to earn the trust of his Team North America coaching staff. In the long term, the goal is to show the hockey world that last spring wasn't a fluke.
He knows there are people out there wondering if it was.
"For sure. You don't just want to win one," Murray said. "You don't just want to have one good season and disappear."