Ex-Spirit broadcaster Leahy gets to call Merrimack hockey’s great year

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Merrimack College hockey program enjoyed a rebirth this season under head coach Mark Dennehy. The Warriors, perennial cellar dwellers of Hockey East in recent years, put together the greatest season the program has ever seen in 2010-11.Spending most of the season ranked in the top ten nationally, the Warriors reached the Hockey East finals for the first time and qualified for the NCAA tourney for the first time since 1988. One person who had an up close and personal view of the Warriors’ success this season was play-by-play announcer John Leahy.If that name sounds familiar to local fans, it should. Leahy was the voice of the North Shore Spirit until the team was disbanded in 2007 and has been the voice of Warrior hockey for the last six seasons.”This has been one of the most enjoyable years I’ve had broadcasting,” Leahy said before going on the air to call the Warriors’ 4-3 overtime loss to Notre Dame in the Northeast Regional semifinals on Saturday. “I can’t say enough about the job Coach Dennehy has done. It’s been absolutely my most enjoyable year of calling hockey.”This year began full of optimism for the Warriors after they had nearly reached Boston a year ago. Things took an upswing when they christened a newly refurbished Lawler Arena on campus in North Andover and it paid off swimmingly as there wasn’t a seat to be had most of the season.”All of the credit for that goes to Glenn Hoffman and the athletic staff,” Leahy said. “He had the vision to build it and it will pay off in the long run when it comes to recruiting.”Leahy still looks back with fond memories about his time spent in Lynn as the voice of the Spirit.”I wouldn’t trade the times I had in Lynn for anything,” Leahy said. “They were very fun and I kind of took that for granted a bit spending the last couple years in Michigan and Kentucky for baseball.”It was a special year in another way for the Stoughton native as he saw his book “Living a King’s Life” hit the bookstores. The book documented Leahy’s experience as the play-by-play announcer for the Kalamazoo Kings baseball team during the 2009 baseball season.”The book is a great achievement,” Leahy said. “It was an idea that was a long time coming and took two years to have come to fruition. I am very proud of it.”Having spent most of his adult life behind a microphone, Leahy had plenty of influences growing up listening to Fred Cusick and Bob Wilson call Boston Bruins games on TV and radio. The Warriors reaching Boston for the first time allowed Leahy to live out a childhood dream.”Just broadcasting in the Boston Garden was a thrill and we got to do it twice,” Leahy said.