Ryan Murphy leads all junior defencemen in the nation in scoring with 17 goals and 52 points in 40 games this season. (Greg Plante/Canadian Press)

Lynn Murphy has shared stories about her hockey-playing son Ryan many times.

He was in Grade 2. She and her husband Mark attended teacher-parent interviews and were told by Ryan's teacher that their son already had set a goal to attend the University of Michigan or Michigan State on a hockey scholarship.

"His teacher said that hockey was all Ryan wrote about in his journal," said Lynn, whose son is in his second year with the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL, and strutted his stuff in the Canadian junior top prospects game at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday.

So how did the kid come up with this Michigan-Michigan State dream when he was so young?

"I remember watching a game on television," he said. "It was such a big rivalry. My dad told me that when the visiting team came out the home fans would pretend to be reading a newspaper. It was exciting to me."

"That teacher has since retired, but I know she said no kid has a goal in Grade 2," Lynn added. "The teacher would ask him to switch to another topic [in his journal], so he would write about what he had to eat that day and then switch back to hockey. It was hockey, hockey, hockey. That's all he has ever wanted to do."

At this point of his junior career, the 17-year-old Murphy made the right decision. He leads all junior defencemen in the nation in scoring with 17 goals and 52 points in 40 games this season and, despite his slight 5-foot-11, 170-pound frame, has been projected to be a top-10 pick at the 2011 NHL entry draft.

Cherry's pick

If Hockey Night In Canada's Don Cherry had the first overall selection, Murphy would go No. 1. The former Jack Adams winner boldly stated as much during a Coach's Corner segment last fall.

"He put a little pressure on me, especially when you consider there are so many great players in my draft year," Murphy said. "I'm working as hard as possible, so hopefully I can work my way up the rankings."

Murphy has remained humble despite being mentioned by Cherry on national television. But that doesn't mean his fellow Rangers have spared him from a few barbs.

"They tell me to quit sucking up to Don," Murphy said. "I have a lot of great teammates, so I don't blame them."

Murphy gets his humility from his parents.

"From Day 1 when Ryan started to get some attention in hockey, we told him to be appreciative of what he has and feel lucky to be doing things like this," Lynn said. "At the end of the day it's nice to be called a good hockey player, but more important to be looked at as a nice person."

Murphy actually met Cherry a few years ago when he played minor hockey for the York-Simcoe Express. The well-dressed coach showed up to watch some games at the Toronto Marlies tournament and witnessed Murphy and the Express overcome a 4-0 deficit to beat the Toronto Junior Canadiens in the semifinals.

"He came in to our dressing room afterwards and congratulated us," Murphy said. "That was something else."

Skilled defender

Murphy is a skilled blue-liner with deft hands. He is a good skater, a skill he exhibited at 18 months old when he pushed aside a walker to help him skate and never looked back. Lynn recalls that she rang a cowbell to get Ryan off the neighbourhood pond, but that he simply wanted to continue skating.

The native of Aurora, Ont., is small, but crafty and has improved immensely in his own end since his early days playing in Kitchener.

The way Murphy plays is reminiscent of Windsor Spitfires and Canadian junior captain Ryan Ellis. Murphy watches Ellis as much as he can and learned plenty from him at the Canadian junior selection camp last month.

When Murphy tunes into the NHL, he likes to watch every move made by Chicago Blackhawks and 2009-10 Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith.

"He's the best two-way defenceman in the game," said Murphy, who has a brother Brendan, 20, and sister Bronwyn, 13. "[Keith] plays the way I want to play."