The twists and turns of a hockey player's career can look like a grand prix race course.

Landisville native John Murray is driving his own personal Le Mans, which Tuesday night led the rookie pro goaltender to Reading's Sovereign Center, which is hosting the East Coast Hockey League's All-Star Game tonight.

Tuesday night, Murray, a member of the ECHL's Ontario (Calif.) Reign, took part in the ECHL All-Star Skills Competition.

Three days ago, the Sovereign Center was the last place Murray thought he would be.

In other words, who knows what's beyond the next curve?

When Murray's Ontario teammate Jeff Zatkoff, who had been selected for the All-Star Game, sustained an injury against Utah last Friday, Murray was selected as a replacement.

"They told me and the next day I was on a plane," he said.

Murray didn't mind the short notice. He was honored to be selected and excited to be able to see family and friends, who might not have been able to see him play this season since most of the Reign's games are on the west coast.

Many of those family members and friends were in the stands Tuesday night to watch him in the Skills Competition.

While an injury to a teammate was Murray's ticket to the All-Star festivities, he also earned his trip east.

He owns a 12-8-1 record (the 1 being a shootout loss), two shutouts and a 2.67 goals-against average, ranking him 14th in the league. He is tied with four other goalies for a league-leading three shootout wins.

Murray's road to Ontario is linked to former Reading Royals coach Karl Taylor. Murray played eight games for the Royals at the tail end of last season, going 3-3-1.

Over this past summer, he received a number of ECHL offers and also went to his first AHL (Manitoba Moose) preseason camp.

"I was happy with the way I played at camp," he said. "I think they wanted to get to know me a bit and it was definitely a learning experience for me."

Just in case he didn't stick with the Moose, Murray signed a contract with the Reign, whose coach was Taylor.

Taylor left Reading when the Royals switched their affiliation from the Los Angeles Kings organization to the Toronto Maple Leafs organization. Now, Taylor is still with the Kings' system and so is Murray.

Murray's season so far with Ontario has seen its own set of twists and turns.

He was one of three goalies for the Reign at season's start and may have been the odd goalie out had Kellen Briggs not gotten hurt at the start of the season. A groin injury has kept Briggs on the shelf ever since.

Murray got another break when Zatkoff was recalled to the AHL Manchester Monarchs. Murray put together a nine-game win streak.

"Everyone played well in front of me, and the bounces were going my way," Murray said. "No matter what I did, it seemed like I was stopping the puck."

But injuries and call-ups caught up with Murray and the Reign, and he's lost six of his last eight.

"We were down to 13 healthy bodies, including myself, when my streak ended," he said.

Briggs has been skating and is almost ready to play. When he's ready, the Reign will have three goalies. But Murray thinks he'll finish the season with Ontario, which sits atop the ECHL Pacific Division standings.

After this season, Murray hopes to attend another AHL team's preseason camp.

After that, who knows? Another bend in the road, probably. But that's OK. Murray will be ready for it.

"This is what I dreamed about when I was little," he said. "I'm playing a game I love and getting paid to do it."

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Murray experienced both the bad and the good at Tuesday night's skills competition.

In the Rapid Fire competition, Murray was burned for seven goals on 10 shots by Trenton's Ryan Gunderson and Wheeling's Brian Ewing.

"The Rapid Fire isn't traditional hockey play," Murray said. "You don't usually face 10 quick shots in a row like that."

It was decided that he would blame the performance on jet lag.

"That sounds good," he said, tongue in cheek.

Murray, playing for the National Conference team, redeemed himself in the Breakaway Relay competition, which saw him stop all six shots he faced from players from the American Conference.

With a 3-1 shootout record this season, Murray's performance in the Breakaway Relay was no surprise.

E-mail: kfreeman@lnpnews.com