Live Chat: Feb. 2, 2012

Flanigan finalist for CLASS Award

Credit: Walter Rossini

Merrimack senior captain Ryan Flanigan has been selected as a finalist for the 2012 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, joining nine other NCAA men’s ice hockey student-athletes who excel on and off the ice.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition.

Flanigan is the only Hockey East player to be named a finalist for the prestigious award; there were two other Hockey East players on the original ballot.

Fans are encouraged to vote on either the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award website or the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award Facebook fan page through March 18.

Flanigan has been a key contributor to Merrimack on the ice, leading his team to a national ranking as high as No. 1 in the country earlier in the year and No. 4 presently. Flanigan is leading the team in scoring with 20 points on the season and is tied for the team lead in assists with 13. He is also leading the team in plus/minus with a rating of +15 for the season.

Outside of the rink, he was one of only 12 Merrimack student-athletes to earn a 4.0 GPA in the fall semester. Flanigan has been named to the Hockey East All-Academic team three straight seasons and also was named to the 2011 Hockey East Academic All-Star Team. Flanigan has been a part of Merrimack's Dean List on five occasions and President's List on one occasion.

He also participates in player-community open skates throughout the hockey year and was the player representative for the Teddy Bear Toss which takes part every hockey season, as donated teddy bears are collected and given to children at a local Boys and Girls club. Flanigan has also been a member of SAAC, Student Athlete Academic Committee, for the past three years and has been a vocal representative.

Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four "C's" of community, classroom, character and competition. The winner will be announced at the 2012 NCAA Men's Frozen Four, which will be staged April 5-7 in Tampa, Fla.

BU head coach, Jack Parker, issues statement

Credit: BU Athletics

Boston University head coach Jack Parker issued the following statement on Wednesday evening in regards to a situation that occurred on Saturday night at Agganis Arena, following the Terriers' 3-1 loss to Maine.

The statement reads:

"I'd like to apologize to the fans at the rink and the CBS Sports Network audience for my verbal abuse of the referee at the end of Saturday's game against the University of Maine. It doesn't matter what the substance was, the form was incorrect."

BU visits Merrimack's J. Thom Lawler Arena on Friday night.

Release: White out set for Friday

Fans are encouraged to wear white Friday as #4 Merrimack takes on #3 BU Friday at 7 pm in the first-ever top-five matchup at Lawler Arena.

The game is sold out to the public but can be seen live locally in HD on WBIN (Channel 18, 811 Comcast; 6, 506 Fios) and nationally on Fox College Sports Pacific (264 Comcast Locally; 623 DirecTV, 302 Fios).

Free pizza and white t-shirts will be distributed to students while supplies last. Students are encouraged to be in their seats by 6:15 to receive their white shirt courtesy of Cedars.

All fans can win special prizes throughout the game as part of Social Networking night. Questions and contests will be posted throughout the game on the graphics board, and fans will be able to interact and answer on twitter @MC_Athletics.

Merrimack is hosting its first-ever top-5 and top-10 matchup at Lawler Arena and can move into a tie for first place in Hockey East with a victory over Boston University.

With just five regular season home games remaining, only tickets to the final two games (Lowell, UMass) remain for purchase at the Merrimack box office.

Warriors add a new teammate

Courtesy: Merrimack College Athletics

Merrimack hockey recently added another team member to its nationally ranked roster. The Warriors welcomed their newest teammate on the ice at the Fenway Park Holiday Skate on January 3rd. 11-year-old Tim Burke woke up at 6 a.m. before the 7 p.m. event.

“I was so excited to meet the team, I couldn’t sleep," he said. "It ended up being even better than I expected.”

Tim is undergoing treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, and was paired up with the Merrimack hockey team by Team IMPACT, a local organization which matches children who have critical illnesses with college athletic teams.

Team IMPACT first approached Tim, who resides in South Boston, about joining the Boston University Terriers. But the young hockey fan had begun following Merrimack’s rise through the national rankings last year, and he wanted to be a Warrior.

“We’ve welcomed him with open arms,” said sophomore assistant captain Jordan Heywood. “We want to give him courage, and something to fight for. We’re there for him.”

Tim is in the middle of 2-1/2 years of chemotherapy. As the Warriors burst onto the national hockey scene last year, Tim was fighting his own battle. After being diagnosed with leukemia, he developed a severe infection last winter which landed him in the Children’s Hospital intensive care unit, and in August he fractured his foot and back, as a result of the bone-weakening chemotherapy.

Head coach Mark Dennehy explained that this relationship with Tim could “spark emotions some players have not dealt with,” and that there were support systems in place for those players.

“Timmy” joins the team in the locker room before games, makes up secret handshakes with players, and frequently texts his older teammates. He describes the team as very nice, and very funny.

“This is like any friendship that evolves over time,” said Heywood. “He’ll support us at our big games, and we’ll go visit him if he’s in the hospital. He gives us perspective, and a reason to dig a little deeper.”

Tim’s treatment often prevents him from attending games, but he sent a text message to Heywood before the January 13 Hockey East match-up against the University of Maine.

“I said good luck, and to score a goal for me," Tim said. "I was just trying to give him some motivation."

Heywood scored a goal in the first period, in what would go on to become Merrimack’s 12th win of the season.

“The morning after the skate at Fenway, he told me, ‘I’ve only been a warrior for twelve hours and I already love it,’” said Tim’s mother, Mary Kelly Burke. “It’s nice to see him smile again.”

Tim, who predicts that Merrimack will win the Hockey East Championships, has big dreams of his own. He is currently applying to Boston College High School, “where Joe Cannata and Coach went,” he says. He hopes to one day be the general manager of the Boston Red Sox.

In the meantime, Tim has already won the friendship and respect of his teammates.

“Tim is an amazing kid with a huge heart," said junior Kyle Bigos. "He’s always smiling and happy and it’s contagious. I’ve been able to hang out with him a couple times and it’s always something I look forward to."

Added Dennehy, “There’s no question that the players get more out of this than Tim. It allows them to remember when they were his age. I think life wears you down quite a bit, and this childlike approach is beneficial. It takes them back to when they played hockey for the fun of it.”

Podcasts: Merrimack 4, Providence 2

The following interviews were recorded by Merrimack radio analyst Mike Machnik

Intermission with College Hockey News Managing Editor Adam Wodon
http://www.warriorhockey.org/podcast/20120129-wodon.mp3

Postgame with Warrior of the Game senior D Karl Stollery
http://www.warriorhockey.org/podcast/20120129-stollery.mp3

Postgame with head coach Mark Dennehy
http://www.warriorhockey.org/podcast/20120129-dennehy.mp3

Mack's Mailbag

You can join in Mack's Mailbag by e-mailing Mike using the Contact link above, or by sending a message to @MikeMcMahonET on Twitter.

Is 1400 AM still actually broadcasting the games? A couple times driving up recently, I've been running late but still heard only smooth latin beats.
1400 broadcasts only the road games.

Any news on the future renovations to the Lawler?
I've heard they are starting soon. The 3-D model I posted last week looks incredible. It looks as if it will change the entire look of the building.

Any chance Madsen would file for an injury red shirt and play next year?
He is ineligible for a medical red shirt. In order to qualify, you must play in less than 20% of your team's games, and if you have appeared in any games, it must be during the first half of the season. Even missing the remainder of the season, he will have played in more than 20% of Merrimack's games, and obviously played play in the second half.

Is the BU game on Friday really sold out? I wanted to get tickets, where can I go?
I've been told that the next three games (BU, UNH and BC) are all gone. I'd check back, with the hope that perhaps some tickets being held for faculty or staff is put back on sale if they aren't going to be used. I know Stub Hub has tickets to all of those games, but for the BU game, for example, I saw tickets going for $65 that faced at $20.

What conference is Merrimack looking to join when it makes the jump to Division 1?
Well, that's if they make the jump. They're exploring it, and I think it's something they really want to do. As far as a conference, America East would be fantastic, but it needs to be a two-way street. Any potential conference has to be open to accepting another member. Not every league is going to be on board with adding schools. There are plenty of options. I also don't think it's necessary to join an "Eastern" conference, at least not right away. There are plenty of conferences that are spread out almost nationally, but play minimal conference games which allows teams to spend less when it comes to travel. That could be an option if an Eastern conference doesn't have a spot open at the moment.