Murphy Becomes ‘KO Kid’

Chris Murphy wasn’t a member of the Merrimack hockey team for long — in fact, he only appeared in 14 games before leaving during the semester break of his freshman season in 2004-05 — but he was widely a fan-favorite during his few months with the team.

Murphy played as if he were shot out of a cannon, skating at full throttle and hitting anything in site.

After leaving the program, he appeared in 31 games the second half of the 2004-05 season for the USHL’s Lincoln Stars, compiling 92 PIM.

The next two years, playing professionally, Murphy amassed 463 PIM in 105 games with four different teams.

Now, Murphy has taken his fights to the squared circle. In four professional boxing matches, Murphy is undefeated at 3-0-1 with all three of his wins coming by way of knockout.

“I wanted to make it to the NHL but I quit the sport at age 22 because I didn’t think I could realistically make it anymore”, Murphy told website 15rounds.com.

Murphy was 20-8 as an amateur before going the professional route, fighting in the summer during hockey offseason to spruce up his enforcer skills and stay in shape.

“It’s funny because (when I look back at my amateur career), I was 200 lbs for most of my early fights”, said Murphy, who now fights as a 155-pounder.

No word on where or when he’ll fight next, but all of the Sparta, N.J. native’s fights have taken place in the Garden State.

Ricci signs with Las Vegas (ECHL); scores in debut

Rob Ricci has signed a deal with the Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL. Last night, in his debut, he scored his first professional point, an assist in a 4-1 win over the Idaho Steelheads.

“(Ricci) is a real smart, nifty player,” said Vegas head coach and general manager Glen Gulutzan to the Las Vegas Sun. “I thought he was good tonight. You can see he is smart and he is only going to get better over time.”

The Wrangers, 28-26-8, won for just the second time in their last 14 games.

By signing a professional contract, Ricci forgoes his final year of eligibility with Merrimack. Academically, he will be eligible to graduate this spring, but had one year of NCAA eligibility remaining.

Kesselring resurrects fledgling program

I was able to check out former Warrior Casey Kesselring coach his Pinkerton Academy squad in the New Hampshire Division 1 state semifinals.

Kesselring’s Astros knocked off top-seeded, and two-time defending state champion, Bishop Guertin, 2-1.

His team will play again on Sunday at 4:45 p.m. at the Verizon Wireless Arena (home of the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs) against Hanover in the state championship game.

What Kesselring has accomplished at Pinkerton is quite impressive. Pinkerton had gone 4-42-2 the three years before he took the helm in 2003. Despite being one of the largest schools in the state, it’s never won a state title. In fact, this will be PA’s first appearance in a state championship game.

I’m not at my office, so I don’t have exact records, but Kesselring’s winning percentage sits somewhere around .650.

Goaltender J.J. Solloway, a junior, was terrific for Kesselring’s squad last night, making 31 saves (including 17 in the first period). It was clear that Guertin had more talent, but Pinkerton won the game with some dirty work, blocking shots, chipping pucks along the wall, and not afraid of getting hammered if it meant getting the puck deep into the zone. They didn’t give BG any room to showcase its skill. The stepped up and punched them in the mouth.

Warriors to host alumni game Feb. 7

Merrimack College will hold it’s annual Alumni game festivities on Feb. 7, the afternoon before the Warriors battle Brown University.

A “Legends” game, for alumni in classes 1951-92, will take place at 11:50 a.m. inside Lawler Arena. The “Young Guns” game, for classes 1993-08, will faceoff at 1 p.m.

Refreshments will be available in the Blue Line Club after each game. Alumni are then encouraged to stick around as the Warriors take on the Brown University Bears at Lawler Arena with a faceoff time of 7 p.m.

Click here for the RSVP form, and return it to the hockey office by mail:

Merrimack College Hockey
Attn: Mark Dennehy
315 Turnpike Street
North Andover, MA 01845

Or, via fax at 978-837-5032.

Jones back to Worcester

After a short conditioning stint in the ECHL, the San Jose Sharks’ Matt Jones has been sent back to Worcester (AHL).

Jones, a former Warrior, missed 18 games earlier this season with what was speculated as a broken jaw. He was assigned to the Phoenix Roadrunners (ECHL) last week for a conditioning assignment.

Classic Photo Album #1

Here at the Eagle Tribune, we have quite an extensive photo archive. Thus, from time to time, we’ll dig into the old albums and post some of the classic Merrimack hockey shots from the past.

If you have any specific players you’d like me to search for, shoot me an e-mail at mmcmahon@eagletribune.com.

BU’s bench including, Head Coach Jack Parker, take cover as their player goes up and over after being checked by Merrimack’s Co-Captain, Steve McKenna. Photo by Carl Russo – 12/8/95.

Merrimack head coach Ron Anderson gets a hug from player Jason Feeley as his players exit the ice at the end of their Hockey East playoff loss to Boston College at the Fleet Center. Photo by Judy Emmert – 3/20/1998

Merrimack College goalie Tom Welby stands on the ice wearing his warrior-face helmet during practice at the Volpe Complex in North Andover. Photo by Judy Emmert – 3/17/98

Merrimack College goalie, Joe Exter falls forward as he makes the save on a shot by BC’s Rob Scuderi (NOTE: This photo still drives around the Merrimack Valley on one of our E-T delivery trucks). Photo by Carl Russo – 11/17/2000

Merrimack College’s Darrel Scoville (left) and Casey Kesselring (right) try to keep Boston College’s Marty Reasoner (center) from the puck during the first period of their Hockey East playoff game (NOTE: This photo is from the only HEA playoff series the Warriors have hosted). Photo by Judy Emmert – 3/6/1997

Jones reassigned to ECHL

Former Warrior Matt Jones was reassigned to the Phoenix Roadrunners of the ECHL on Wednesday.

Jones, who would have been a junior this season, signed with the San Jose Sharks after his sophomore year with the Warriors.

This season with the Sharks’ AHL affiliate in Worcester, Jones had seen action in just four games, netting a goal. He had missed 18 games due to an undisclosed injury.

In his professional career, Jones has a 2-1–3 line in 11 games, all in the AHL.

A Casey Guenther sighting

Former Warrior netminder Casey Guenther, and his wife Christina, area teaching at the Woodstock School in India. Casey and Christina write a blog about their experiences that has a lot of photos of the landscapes and things in the area they live. There are some great stories too — for example, how many of you have to worry about monkeys invading your home garden?

Casey also operates a design business called Casey Guenther Designs, where he develops logos and other print material.

On a personal note; Casey was a year ahead of me at Merrimack, and quickly became my younger brother’s favorite player. His junior year, he left the ice after a game and went down the runway and flipped a puck up into the seats where my then 10-year-old brother caught it. He was an instant Casey Guenther fan, going as far as taking blue electrical tape and putting a No. 29 on the back of his jersey. It’s good to see that he and his wife are doing well.

If you scroll through the blog, you’ll notice that Casey ran a street hockey league with some kids in the school.