As a defenceman, Ryan Murphy’s offensive skill set is so unique it’s hard to imagine comparing him to anyone else. And yet he is very often compared and confused with other people. Ryan Murphy of the Kitchener Rangers. Photo by Aaron Bell/OHL Images

On the ice, early in his career with the Kitchener Rangers, he was dubbed "Ryan Ellis Light" and weighed against the smooth-skating standout blueliner from the Windsor Spitfires.

"I told him the day we drafted him, we will never make that comparison as long as he's a Kitchener Ranger,” said head coach and general manager Steve Spott. "It's not fair to him. Ryan Ellis is a world-class player, but Ryan Murphy is a world-class player in a different way."

Off the ice, on Twitter, he is regularly mistaken by people as Ryan Murphy - the co-creator, writer and director of the hit TV show Glee.

"I like to joke around and tell them the show is cancelled until further notice," said the hockey-playing Murphy of the show’s fans. "I have no idea how they get me mixed up? I’m pretty sure I have a hockey player

Read More »from Ryan Murphy is often compared to others but, is a world-class player in his own right

The OHL's Brampton Battalion play just outside Toronto. (OHL Images)Phil Ercolani wears many different hats at his job. On this day, he’s adding inflatable tank-tester to his resume along with his usual duties on the marketing, sales, and public relations fronts.

With the Brampton Battalion’s home opener less than 24 hours away, Ercolani needs to make sure everything – including the faux tank the team skates through to take the ice - is in tip-top shape.

“We had to make sure it all worked,” said Ercolani. “You don’t want the tank tipping over or you find out your (air) blower is blown… it’s Murphy’s Law, if it can go wrong it will go wrong, so we try to do as much testing as we can and then try to take on the unthinkable as it falls into our lap.”

What has dropped into the lap of the 60 Canadian Hockey League franchises across Canada and in the United States, at least for now, is a Closed sign on the National Hockey League. On the opening weekend of the CHL regular season, NHL owners and players will be trying to make progress on finding a

Read More »from NHL's loss could be big gain for junior hockey clubs

Cody DonagheyIf hockey doesn’t work out for Cody Donaghey, don’t expect to see him following in his father’s footsteps in show business. As a first-year defenceman with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, his first official bus trip with the team included stint on “Rookie Idol” in which he performed an Eminem song.

“That’s was something,” said the native of St. John’s, Nfld. “I’m not meant to be a singer.

“Oh, it was bad. They were surprised I couldn’t sing.”

They were surprised because his father, Gregory Donaghey, was the lead singer of the Carlton Showband, a Juno award-winning Celtic-Canadian group in the 1960s and ‘70s. The elder Donaghey also topped the music charts in his native Ireland with the song “More Than Yesterday”.

“I can’t believe that,” said the younger Donaghey. “It’s crazy. Hearing people now who are No.1 and knowing that dad was like that over in Ireland – it’s wild.”

The Carlton Showband were regulars on the TV show The Pig and Whistle – a variety show on CTV – and Read More »from Huskies sing praises of top pick Cody Donaghey

Nail Yakupov says he’s not sure what the future holds for him in the event of an NHL lockout.

His agent, former NHLer Igor Larionov, has said that the top pick of the Edmonton Oilers would play in either the KHL or Europe – but Yakupov himself is uncertain.

“Nobody knows,” said the 18-year-old Tuesday on where he would play in the event of labour strife. “And I don’t know, too.”

The only thing he knows with any great certainty is that he won’t be returning to the Ontario Hockey League’s Sarnia Sting, where he spent two seasons living with Montreal Canadiens draft pick Alex Galchenyuk and his family.

“No,” he said of a Sarnia return, before quickly added the following caveat.

“Yeah, but just for a visit. I have a lot of friends there and I have my second family – the Galchenyuk family – I want to see [Alex Galchenyuk Sr.] and Gally’s mom, so I’d like to go and see the family for a couple days. Go to the rink and see my GM and coaches who have helped me Read More »from Yakupov ready to go pro with or without NHL

The inner workings of a union are often secretive. It comes with the territory when protecting the best interests of your members.

It seems the Canadian Hockey League Players’ Association has taken this secrecy to a whole new level. It’s so secret, in fact, that of the 15 players contacted by Yahoo! Sports in the three member leagues – OHL, QMJHL and WHL – only two said they had heard about it prior to Monday.

On Tuesday, former NHL enforcer Georges Laraque was hired as the new executive director of the CHLPA. He was not voted into the position by his membership, because there isn’t one. No junior hockey union has been certified.

Saginaw Spirit veteran Brandon Archibald said he found out about the players allegedly forming a union via Twitter.

[Related: CHLPA names Georges Laraque executive director]

“I’ve been trying to read all the articles to figure out what’s been happening,” said Archibald on Tuesday afternoon. “From the people I’ve talked to, no one knows what’s going

Read More »from Players still in the dark over proposed CHL union

Looks like there won’t be any courtroom drama involving the Kitchener Rangers and The Michigan Daily after all. The two sides reached a settlement on Friday afternoon. As part of the agreement, the University of Michigan newspaper published a clarification regarding a July 2 story which alleged -- based on an anonymous OHL source – that the Rangers had offered Winnipeg Jets prospect Jacob Trouba $200,000 to play in the Ontario Hockey League this season. The original story, written by reporter Matt Slovin, was also removed from the paper’s website.

"The Michigan Daily has removed the article that caused the Kitchener Rangers to commence legal proceedings against the newspaper and the reporter, Matt Slovin,” said Rangers chief operating officer Steve Bienkowski. “As they have acceded to what was from the outset the Kitchener Rangers' primary demand, we are discontinuing the legal proceedings as against the newspaper and Mr. Slovin.”

A payment like the one Kitchener was Read More »from Kitchener Rangers settle out of court with Michigan newspaper

For years the Ontario Hockey League had been accused of having some teams that would break the rules in order to get an edge on luring the best available talent to report. For years when making such references, reporters had to use words like allegedly and rumour. No team in the OHL had ever been caught.

That all changed on Friday.

On Friday, the OHL announced that the Windsor Spitfires had been found guilty of breaking the league’s rules in regards to recruitment and benefits. The Spitfires have been fined $400,000 and will forfeit five draft picks as a result. The high picks include first-round picks in 2013, 2014 and 2016 as well as second-round picks in 2015 and 2017, which could potentially cripple the club’s on-ice product if it intends to bid to host the 2014 Memorial Cup.

“On one hand it’s a real dark day for our league,” said OHL commissioner Dave Branch, who also serves as the president of the Canadian Hockey League. “But we’re going to try to turn aRead More »from OHL slaps Windsor Spitfires with massive sanctions

Nathan MacKinnonThere’s little doubt at this stage of his very young career that Nathan MacKinnon is destined for stardom. He has yet to see his 17th birthday, but he’s already being touted as the potential first-overall pick in the 2013 NHL draft. This summer though, the Halifax Mooseheads phenom was in the spotlight for something other than hockey when he made his first foray into acting on the CBC television show Mr. D.

“It’s was different,” said MacKinnon of the acting experience. “It’s a comedy show, so it’s pretty hard not to laugh when (show lead) Gerry Dee is making jokes all the time. It’s pretty exciting though.”

The show – shot on location in Halifax– is set in a high school. And while MacKinnon can’t divulge the specifics of his scenes, he said the part wasn’t really that much of a stretch since he’s playing a student-athlete.

“It was definitely an unbelievable experience and I had a lot of fun acting,” said MacKinnon.

“I said a couple lines and I was there for a couple scenes.” Read More »from Nathan MacKinnon's hockey prowess is no act