Before his professional career, Murley played college hockey for four seasons at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. He was drafted in the 2nd round (51st overall) by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, although he did not choose to report to Pittsburgh until 2002. Murley played with the &lt;a href="Wilkes-Barre/Scranton%20Penguins"&gt;Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins&lt;/a&gt; of the American Hockey League (AHL) before being called up for the 2003–2004 season.