OHL justice handed down after Murphy suffers concussion

Ryan Murphy - Peter Koutroumpis, PKS Consulting LLC

On Tuesday, the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) handed down its strongest punishment to date this season in assessing Pittsburgh prospect and Niagara IceDogs forward Tom Kuhnhackl a 20-game suspension as a result of a hit he placed on Carolina Hurricanes prospect and Kitchener Ranger Ryan Murphy last Friday night.

A copy of the rationale used by the league to assess the punishment is available for view on the OHL's web site, under the Discipline section.

Even though Murphy skated off on his own after the hit and played a shift afterward, it has been reported by various sources, including the Waterloo Record, that he suffered a concussion as a result of the incident.

Aside from keeping him from further play with the Rangers, the concussion has denied Murphy the opportunity to play in the Subway Super Series featuring OHL all-stars against the best young players from Russia and puts into question his ability to compete for Team Canada at the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championships (WJHC).


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Hurricanes future on defense gets hit hard

Ryan Murphy

Ryan Murphy, the Carolina Hurricanes' top pick (12^th overall) in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft was hit hard during an Ontario Hockey League (OHL) game between his junior club, the Kitchener Rangers, and the Niagara IceDogs on Friday night in Kitchener, Ontario.

According to a report from the Waterloo Record, Murphy was hit by IceDogs player Tom Kuhnhackl on a play behind the Kitchener net.

Kuhnhackl appeared to have left his feet before he contacted Murphy into the boards leaving the Carolina prospect on the ice lying motionless for a time before getting up and leaving the ice surface on his own.

Murphy is not playing in the Rangers lineup in Saturday's return game against the IceDogs and is listed with an upper-body injury.

The OHL suspended Kuhnhackl for Saturday's game and further suspension is under consideration by the league.

There has been no subsequent report on Murphy's condition since Friday night's game which has many in Kitchener and Raleigh, N.C. concerned on the future of the talented young defenseman.

It's not the first time that Murphy has been sidelined with a similar injury as he sat out a few games back in March 2011 after taking an elbow to the face in a game against the Kingston Frontenacs.

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Carolina Hurricanes level their record with 4-3 win over Sabres

CarolinaHurricanes.com

Wow! What a week of NHL hockey in Raleigh, N.C.

The Carolina Hurricanes started the 2011-2012 season with a 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, followed by a 4-3 overtime loss to the Washington Captitals the next night, and then finished the Columbus Day weekend with a 4-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils.

Beginning the season at 0-2-1 was not what the team expected after trying to work the kinks out on the heels of finishing 1-5 during the preseason.

With the situation looking bleak as the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins were coming down South, the Hurricanes put together their first full 60-minute effort to win the game 3-2 at the RBC Center.

The win was the tonic needed to boost the team's confidence after all of the hard work it had been putting in to make a number of changes since training camp began, including carrying 9 defensemen.

For rookie defenseman Ryan Murphy, the full NHL experience was completed as he was assigned to his junior team, the Kitchener Rangers, as the 'numbers game' finally caught up to him and sitting upstairs was not doing him any good.

With the NC State Fair in operation, the Hurricanes began a four-game road trip by traveling to Buffalo on Friday and put together another hard-fought victory to beat the undefeated Sabres 4-3 in their own building - the First Niagara Center while coach Paul Maurice coached his 900th game with the organization.

Jeff Skinner scored the winning goal on a cross-ice feed from Jussi Jokinen and Joni Pitkanen.

Last season's Rookie of the Year has started the season with six points (2g, 4a) in five games.

No worries of a sophomore slump at this point.

The Hurricanes return home and prepare to travel to Beantown on Tuesday to battle the Bruins once again who will be looking to avenge their loss earlier in the week.

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Carolina Hurricanes a week away from home opener

Zac Dalpe cracking the Canes lineup

As the Carolina Hurricanes prepare to begin the regular season on October 7, the team's most recent roster cuts came on Thursday.

The team's 24-man roster takes on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night and has the team preparing to be in season-ready form over the next week.

Before camp started many speculated that the forward positions would be the only ones to be contested but as training camp has progressed rookies Justin Faulk (19 years old) and Ryan Murphy (18 years old) have made strong cases to contest for a spot with the blue line corps of veterans.

With only two games remaining in the preseason, the next week of practices will really focus on putting together all of the individual and small group positional work that coach Paul Maurice and his staff have been putting the team through.

Hurricanes fans can expect a more quick puck-moving offense and a defense that will 'gap' opposing teams in the neutral zone to cause more turnovers with quicker transition into the offense and increase in shots on goal.

That's the plan anyway.

How quickly the team develops those systems to pay dividends remains to be scene, but they're exciting prospects to consider.

New feature: X's & O's

Stay tuned as a new feature titled X's & O's will show the team's plays drawn up to help everyone understand what they're trying to do during games.

Follow on Twitter @pksport to get picture posts of play set-ups used in the games starting on Sept. 30 during the Hurricanes vs. Columbus Blue Jackets game and throughout the season.

Thoughts and comments are welcome at any time.

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