Coyotes prospect Connor Murphy (OHL Images)

Phoenix Coyotes first-rounder Connor Murphy has a world junior gold medal to cherish but it came at cost for him. And the Sarnia Sting.

In practically one fell swoop, the Sting have provided Exhibit A for how a half-season's impressive progress in the CHL can get thwarted by both the NHL teams' plans and the beast that is the world junior championship. Coach-GM Jacques Beaulieu's team, which is holding the No. 2 playoff seed in the OHL's cutthroat Western Conference, faces not knowing whether it will get star centre Alex Galchenyuk back from the Montreal Canadiens. Now Murphy's already voluminous medical records have added another chapter.

From Terry Doyle (@loosepucks) and Paul Owen (@observerowen)

Murphy had an MRI in PHoenix Wednesday that showed a lateral meniscus tear in his knee.

— Paul Owen (@ObserverOwen) January 10, 2013

Sarnia Sting lose defenceman Connor Murphy for season, needs surgery on torn meniscus (knee) suffered at World Juniors.

— Loosepucks.com (@loosepucks) January 10, 2013

Murphy suffered the injury in the WJC final against Sweden. Needs surgery and it will end his time with the Sting.

— Paul Owen (@ObserverOwen) January 10, 2013

Ottawa 67's wing John Urbanic (Valerie Wutti photo)John Urbanic gave new meaning to the term dine and dash after being traded.

Sometimes in junior hockey, the focus on how trade deadline moves boost a contender or help a team who's playing for the next season overshadows the assets trading hands are teenagers. The 17-year-old Urbanic was not the only Ontario Hockey Leaguer to wake up a member of one team and turn in as a member of another. However, he had quite the impromptu itinerary. After being traded from the Oshawa Generals to the Ottawa 67's, Urbanic had to pack and make a nearly four-hour drive to play immediately — for the 67's against the Generals at Scotiabank Place. The Overland Park, Kansas, resident reported at 6:30 p.m. for a 7 p.m. puckdrop.

"I just came in right after warmups," related Urbanic, who nearly scored on his first shift. "I was getting dressed while the guys were on the ice. I was lucky to start the game on time.

"It was kind of funny. I ate my lunch with the Generals and after lunch they'd told me I had been traded. So I came on over here."

Urbanic said came on over here the same way a retiree would explain her/his decision to amble over to Tim Hortons for a mid-afternoon coffee. In his case, he was referring to loading up his car in Oshawa and hitting the highway. As softly as he said it, it spoke pretty loudly about how eager a player is to get a clean slate with a new team.

Lightning first-rounder Slater Koekkoek (OHL Images)

Every would-be contender the OHL's Western Conference seems to have stocked up on scoring, which makes Windsor Spitfires GM Warren Rychel's trade for defenceman Slater Koekkoek perhaps brilliantly counter-intuitive.

The Spitfires' trade with the Peterborough Petes for the disgruntled defenceman (as previously noted) highlights a flurry of activity in the final hours before Thursday's 12 noon ET deadline. The London Knights fortified their blueline by adding San Jose Sharks prospect Justin Sefton from the retooling Sudbury Wolves, while star centre Vincent Trocheck is headed from the Saginaw Spirit to the Plymouth Whalers.

[Related: Buzzing The Net CHL Chatravaganza, 12 noon ET, 9 a.m. PT]

Meantime, the Eastern Conference-leading Barrie Colts seem content to place their chips on 2014 and a Memorial Cup bid. It's either that or the uncertainty over Mark Scheifele's situation with the Winnipeg Jets tied GM Jason Ford's hands.

Connor Brown had his fourth OHL hat trick on Wednesday (OHL Images)

No. 1 star: Connor Brown, Erie Otters (OHL)

Brown has six goals in as many games since Christmas, after his hat-trick goal with 34.7 seconds left helped the improving Otters top the Owen Sound Attack 4-3. The Leafs draft choice got open on the power play, giving linemate Connor McDavid (2A) just enough of a passing lane for a centring feed. Brown, who has 23 goals in 41 games despite 10- and six-game droughts, came up big as the Otters worked to make up for a sloppy start. The 18-year-old scored twice during a wild first period that ended in a 3-3 tie and with goalie Oscar Dansk getting hooked after giving up three goals on 11 shots. Brown's first came on a tip-in, and then he showed off a great shot by beating the Attack's Brandon Hope blocker side.

Skilled players like Tyler Sandhu will be key for the Silvertips moving forward (photo: Everett Silvertips)The Everett Silvertips are performing about as well as could reasonably be expected this season, but that didn't prevent GM Garry Davidson from pulling the plug on head coach Mark Ferner and assistant coach Chris Hartsburg yesterday in a move that appeared sudden, but has reportedly been brewing for a while.

The Silvertips are 16-24-0-2, and sit in eighth place in the WHL's Western Conference. As expected, they're looking up at U.S. powers Portland, Spokane and Tri-City and battling with Seattle to avoid last place in the division.

When Davidson was hired away from the Portland Winterhawks to replace Doug Soetaert in February, he promised that the Silvertips would play a style of hockey that emphasized speed and skill, much like his previous team.

Soetaert hired Ferner, and Davidson and Ferner have reportedly been on different wavelengths in terms of "hockey philosophy" since the start. Instead of waiting until the offseason to shake things up, Davidson decided to take charge and begin teaching his brand of hockey right away:

Davidson is a proponent of attacking, offensive hockey. Ferner is a proponent of hard-working, defensively-responsible hockey. These differences were known from the beginning, when Davidson was hired last February. Davidson gave it some time to see if the two could come to reach some sort of middle ground, but that never happened. Both Davidson and Ferner acknowledged the difference in philosophies. (Everett Herald)

Davidson replaced Ferner with himself, and says he'll coach the Silvertips for the rest of the season and then look for a new head coach to work alongside assistant Mitch Love, who was retained.

Davidson was the director of player personnel for the Winterhawks until being hired by the Silvertips. Davidson and exiled Portland coach/GM Mike Johnston are longtime friends and brought an uptempo, attacking philosophy to the Winterhawks when they joined the franchise together in 2008.

Edmonton-bound Trevor Cheek has 18 goals this serason (The Canadian Press)

The Portland-London-Halifax hold on the Dynamic Dozen was slightly dislodged while the junior hockey-liking world's eyes were on Ufa.

The Kelowna Rockets, winners of 22 of their past 26 games, have scooted up to third for the new calendar year's first rankings. Meantime, the defending WHL champion Edmonton Oil Kings have surged back into the rankings ahead of their big move for overager Trevor Cheek.

Everything is in flux in junior hockey due to trade deadlines and players being spirited away to NHL training camps, for however long. Here's a best stab at making sense of it.

Toronto Maple Leafs first-round pick Morgan Rielly (Getty Images)

Well, here's one sop for junior hockey operators dealing with the ripple effect of the NHL starting its season four months late. Should Morgan Rielly open the season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, just to use one example of a teenaged prospect who's been plucked away in the middle of the major junior season, his NHL team will have a shorter window before it has to commit to using the first year of his entry-level contract.

It appears the normal 'nine-game rule' will be pro-rated to five, in keeping with the lockout-shortened 48-game schedule. There will still be "no time to give up games" in a season that's so short. Chances are, someone is going last long enough to play some NHL games. That happened in the 1995 season. While this might seem like a contradiction, there's also no exhibition schedule to see how the likes of Rielly, the Montreal Canadiens' Alex Galchenyuk or Boston Bruins' Dougie Hamilton look against pro competition. At least some junior team could get their star player back sooner if the NHL exceeds his grasp.

From Bob McKenzie:

It's "expected" tho not official yet that the 10-game rule for called up juniors will become the six-game rule.

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 9, 2013

That is, team could play underage junior for 5 games without burning a year of his entry level contract. A 6th game, tho, would burn year.

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 9, 2013

Combing all corners of the country and the blogosphere for your junior hockey headlines ...

WHL

The Moose Jaw Warriors are willing to "prepare" as if Morgan Rielly is making the Toronto Maple Leafs for keeps. (Postmedia)

Edmonton Oil Kings coach Derek Laxdal, on defenceman Griffin Reinhart's audition with the New York Islanders: "It’s such a structured game in the NHL, and Griff really strives under structure, so it’ll be interesting to see how he does up there." (Edmonton Journal)

Everett Silvertips GM Garry Davidson is putting himself behind the bench in a bid to shake up his eighth-place team, replacing Mark Ferner. (Everett Herald, Kamloops Daily News, Seattle Times)

Overage defenceman Mitchell Chapman's season with the Kelowna Rockets is over due to an ankle injury. (Kelowna Capital News)

Michael Ferland's return led to the Brandon Wheat Kings releasing five-year defenceman Ryley Miller. (Brandon Sun)

Moving 19-year-old Jesse Zgraggen to Calgary clears some minutes for the Victoria Royals' younger defencemen, such as Keegan Kanzig. (Victoria Times-Colonist, The Hitmen Informant)

Man alive, the Kootenay Ice have won six in a row. Viva Sam Reinhart! (Ice Chips)

OHL

What's in store for Alex Galchenyuk as an 18-year-old trying to make the Montreal Canadiens' opening night lineup? (La Presse)