Out of town
We'll be out of town until July 20th, so forgive me for the lack of updates until then. If you're so inclined, check out our Twitter feed (and follow me!) and I'll pass along any tidbits that come my way.
Joe Cannata (Vancouver), Kyle Bigos and Jesse Todd (Edmonton) all are participating in NHL Development camps.
Former Warriors Joe Loprieno and Matt Jones are in the Sharks’ camp.
Merrimack SID Brad Davis has some info on the Bigos and Todd’s trip to Edmonton. Bigos was drafted 99th overall by the Oilers in last month’s NHL Draft; Todd is a free agent invitee.
Darren Yopyk, who has served as an assistant coach at Merrimack for the last four seasons, has accepted an offer to become the head coach of the Westside Warriors of the British Columbia Hockey League, one of the premiere junior leagues in Canada.
“It is with bittersweet feelings that I accept the head coaching position with Westside,” said Yopyk. “The next step in my coaching career is to take the reins as a head coach, and I am fortunate to get this opportunity with Westside. I want to thank Coach Dennehy for his tremendous guidance and support. I cannot say enough about the support the program has from the administration, support staff and alumni. I know the Merrimack hockey program has come a long way over the past four seasons. I will watch with eager anticipation as they continue to ascend in Hockey East and on the national level.”
Yopyk, who worked primarily with the defensemen and penalty killing units at Merrimack, was promoted to associate head coach before the 2008-09 season. A St. Paul, Alberta native, he oversaw all recruiting efforts, establishing the Alberta pipeline to Merrimack that saw the likes of Chris Barton (Calgary), Karl Stollery (Camrose), Jesse Todd (Calgary), and Kyle Bigos (Upland, CA) enroll at Merrimack in recent years.
“It was with a heavy heart that I accepted Coach Yopyk’s letter of resignation,” said Merrimack head coach Mark Dennehy. “I was also very happy for him and proud as he was offered and accepted the head coaching position for the Westside Warriors of the BCHL.”
Under Yopyk’s guidance, the Warriors set a school record for fewest goals allowed in a season for the second straight year and posted a goals-against-average under three in Hockey East for the first time in school history.
“Darren has put his heart and soul into the Merrimack Hockey program,” said Dennehy. “Now it’s his turn to take the next step in his quest to be a college head coach. He was the first person I brought into the Merrimack hockey family, and I know how hard a decision this has been for him and wish him nothing but success. Finally, I would like to thank him for his loyalty and dedication to Merrimack Hockey and its players.”
Yopyk is the only college hockey coach to have earned a Ph.D., which he earned in Psychology, with an emphasis on student-athlete academic performance in 2006.
Westside posted a 37-18-1-4 record last season, finishing in third place in its division.
A national search to replace Yopyk will begin immediately.
Note: I’ll have more on Yopyk’s departure tonight.
UMass Lowell head coach Blaise MacDonald sat down with UML radio play-by-play man Bob Ellis for a podcast interview streamed on YouTube.
During the interview, MacDonald was speaking of the fights the program had to endure to keep it afloat a few years ago when many wanted it to drop out of Hockey East in favor of keeping just the Amherst campus as the “focal point” of UMass and took a small jab at the Merrimack program in the process.
“From a personal standpoint, I look back at the fights we had to try and maintain this program a couple of years ago and I took it personal when they kept comparing our program to Merrimack,” MacDonald said. “I don’t get that. We’ve done a number of things that Merrimack has never done; they haven’t made the playoffs in five years now.
“We were ranked in the top-20 for 11, 14 weeks in recent past, so it’s nice to show some of the people who were involved in trying to extinguish our program that (keeping the program alive) is the right decision.”
There are some rumblings that Dartmouth assistant coach Brendan Whittet could have the inside track to be the next head coach at Brown University.
Brown has received a lot of interest in the job, including numerous Division 1 assistants and Division 3 head coaches. But, according to someone with knowledge of the hiring process, some candidates have had their interest diminish due to Brown capping the salary at $85,000/year.
Whittet is in his 11th season as an assistant on the Dartmouth College staff and 14th season overall in collegiate coaching.
He’s from Providence, R.I. and graduated from Brown in 1994 with a bachelor of arts degree in organizational behavior and management.
A former assistant defenseman with the Bears in his playing days at Brown, Whittet was a four-year letter-winner. In his playing career, he appeared in 74 games and helped lead the Bears to an Ivy League title in 1992, two trips to the ECAC Final Four Championship in 1993 and 1994, and an NCAA at-large tournament team selection in 1993.
During Whittet’s high school career he was a two-time Rhode Island all-state and all-league selection at perennial powerhouse Mount St. Charles. He was named the Rhode Island Defensive Player of the Year in 1988-89.
Photo by John Gregory
Photo by John Gregory
Photo by John Gregory
Former Merrimack goaltender and associate head coach Mike Doneghey has taken a job as the New England scout for the Chicago Blackhawks, the same team that drafted him in the 1989 NHL Draft.
Doneghey, who will remain as the Bridgewater Bandits head coach (EJHL), takes over for former Merrimack head coach Ron Anderson, who was promoted to Director of Player Recruitment and Free Agents for the Blackhawks.
Doneghey has been one of the top coaches in the EJHL since taking over the Bandits program in 2005. He was an assistant coach with UNH during the 1997-98 season, and took the associate job at Merrimack in 1999.
Courtesy of merrimackathletics.com …
Congratulations are in order for Merrimack associate coach Darren Yopyk, who finished the Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon in 4:46:23 last weekend in Seattle, Wash.
It was the first marathon for the 33-year-old Yopyk, who arrived at Merrimack with Mark Dennehy in 2005.
Yopyk, a native of St. Paul, Alberta, has been Merrimack’s main contact to the recruiting pipeline seen in Western Canada in recent years. Yopyk has recruited talent such as Karl Stollery, Christ Barton and Jesse Todd, just to name a few.
He earned a Master’s Degree in Psychology from UMass Amherst and received his Ph.D. in Psychology with an emphasis on student-athlete academic performance in May, 2006.
Yopyk is a tireless worker no matter what he’s doing, be it hockey, studies, or even marathons. When I was at Merrimack, it was not unusual to meet Yopyk in the locker room at 10 p.m., going over film. When the time comes, he’ll make an excellent head coach.
I stopped by Lawler Arena for a quick tour of the work being done in the rink. The entire ice bed has been torn up and the floor has been replaced. A new concrete floor will be poured on Wednesday.
Merrimack captain Pat Bowen has recorded a video piece that will be posted on the Merrimack Athletics site giving more information about the construction.
Here are some pictures of the work:
This picture is taken from behind the far net (where Merrimack shoots twice). There is a tarp covering both sets of bleachers.
This view is from behind the far net, looking at the set of bleachers where the BLC and luxury boxes are above.
This view is from behind the far net, facing the set of stands on the press box side.
