THANK YOU Merrimack!

 The summer has sped by and hockey season is rapidly descending on us. With that being said, I wanted to take this opportunity to share a few thoughts about my transition in my broadcasting career. I expressed several thoughts about this on my podcast a few weeks back, but I also wanted to get my thoughts in written form. I considered the thought of taking out advertising space in the Lawrence-Eagle Tribune for this written project but due to the high costs I've chosen to do it this way. And I think it will reach a lot of people this way as well.

On August 24, I was hired to be the next radio play by play voice of UMass Lowell hockey, replacing Bob Ellis, who retired after 40 years with the River Hawks at the end of last season. I had received a phone call from UML in June, as they were gauging my interest in the position. I agreed to meet with them on July 2, and after a long period of introspection on both sides, I chose to accept the offer, ending my 19 year run at Merrimack College as their play by play announcer for men's and women's hockey. In this post, I'd like to share my deep appreciation and affinity for Merrimack College. 

Leaving the site of where I got my start in Division 1 hockey was the most agonizing decision I've ever made in my professional career. Merrimack has been so good to me over the years, and I'm so grateful to everyone there. You all have touched my life in so many wonderful ways. We've grown together, we've gone through some hard times and we've gone through some pretty unbelievably fun times too. It has been an absolute joy to be your play by play announcer. People may have different opinions of my work there, but there is one thing I can tell you for sure- I gave 120% of myself every time I put that headset on. I wanted you all to experience the excitement of the greatest game in the world through my passion for the sport, the sport I've loved all my life. The sport I've been around since age 5. And, the sport that I've wanted to broadcast all my life, starting with my practice of turning down the volume on my small gray black and white television at age 6 in 1970 and pretending to be the television play by play voice of the Boston Bruins, Fred Cusick. I knew I wasn't going to be a professional athlete, in spite of my athletic games I loved to play with my neighborhood friends growing up on Howland Road in Stoughton. But I damn well knew I'd be broadcasting it. It's in my blood, and it all got started because of you. Merrimack. 

Who to thank- a monumental task. I'll start by acknowledging my love for you, WARRIOR NATION. You are among the most passionate devoted fanbase of any team in college sports. The nights I'd be at Lawler Rink and hear and see you in full voice made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. You are devoted, passionate, and incredibly loyal. I love that you made me feel right at home all these years. The times we've talked and shot the breeze about hockey was very gratifying. I love you all- no matter what way you came to follow Merrimack hockey- whether you were a parent, an alum, a student, an employee, or a player there- you are all very special to me and you always will be. I'll cherish the memories, the stories, and your friendship forever. I hope I meant as much to you as you did to me. 

Thanks to my partner in crime, Mike Machnik, who was by my side for every game. If there's a person who knows more about college hockey than Mike, that person would be hard to find. Mike's knowledge, his preparation, and his enthusiasm for the game always helped me to elevate my game. I knew that every time we went on to do a broadcast, our audience would be entertained and informed. We had really good chemistry together, and I think we did pretty well together in our time there. I was so happy to see Mike get rewarded with the Concannon Media Award the year he won it. Very deserving. And he will continue to carry on the great responsibility of bringing you the game as only he can. Be very glad, Warrior Nation, you are in GREAT hands. 

Mike McMahon is an unbelievable success story, and I need to thank him as well. When I started in 2005, Mike was a student at Merrimack, a senior. I saw him when he was just starting out. I knew immediately he had a great passion for the game. Fast forward almost two decades later, and Mike is the #1 authority for college hockey reporting. There are many great journalists out there- including everyone who works at CHN- but in my biased opinion nobody does it better than Mike. Mike has blossomed into simply the best college hockey journalist in the country today, and probably the world. Mike 's work is a staple of my preparation and I'm glad to say that will continue. I will miss seeing him and listening to his wisdom whenever I see him. I've said this to Mike many times- it has been fascinating to see his career grow. And I've seen it from Day 1. Again, Warrior nation, you are blessed to have Mike's coverage. 

Ian Beauchesne is a rising star. I was so happy to see him becoming involved with Merrimack hockey, and he is such a passionate, entertaining fellow. Ian is amazing at what he does- his love for the sport and his love for Merrimack make him the perfect fit as the PA voice of Lawler Arena. He has been a contributor to my podcast several times, and will continue to do so in the future. Ian is becoming very well respected as a journalist in his own right, and he was and is a very vital part of the experience at Merrimack. I am honored to call him a friend and a colleague. I will miss hearing his voice at Lawler, but am certainly looking forward to coming back as a visitor and hearing him do what he does best. Thanks Ian. 

Much thanks to the administration there, Jeremy Gibson and Ciaran Cullen, who gave me the chance to be me. I'm indebted to Jeremy for giving me the opportunity to do TV work- something I coveted for a long time. I loved every second of it. Ciaran is a great person who again supported us unbelievably well, and just let us be us. He was always by our side with everything, and I will miss him. Dr. Christopher Hopey did and will continue to do great things for the college. There's never been any doubt about his commitment to make the Merrimack experience the best it can always be. Merrimack students should be excited to have these fine men guiding their path during their education and athletic careers there. 

A big thank you to the head coaches, Scott Borek and Erin Hamlen. Two of the finest people I've ever worked with. Two individuals who are as passionate as they come. Both Scott and Erin treated me and us very well, and it was a pleasure to be associated with both of them. I will be following the Warriors and will root for their success. Both hockey programs deserve it. And also great thanks to Mark Dennehy for the first thirteen years. A consummate pro, he is now enjoying success with the New Jersey Devils organization. He deserves that success, and I'm happy for him. And to all the assistant coaches, Chris Ross, Jimmy Mullen, and Stephanie Wood, I will miss you all as well. You are great friends and are very good at what you do. And Chris, I'm not letting you off the hook. We WILL play a song together at some point. 

Also great thanks to our incredible Pack Network crew, K.J. Cardinal, Jared Fieldsend, and Tom Casanova. You guys may be behind the scenes, but we couldn't pull off the TV broadcasts without you. Such great, professional people. Be proud of the work you have done and will continue to do. You are among the very best at your craft. You are and always will be appreciated. 

I'd also like to thank Brock Hines. One of my best friends in this business, Brock did the radio and TV at UMass for 29 years. When he left the Minutemen, he became the most coveted, sought after free agent in Hockey East. Thankfully, I was aggressive in convincing him to come to North Andover to help me cover women's games. I know he loved being there as much as I loved having him. One of the worst parts of this decision was not being able to do games with Brock anymore. He means a whole lot to me, and I hope you, Warrior Nation, saw the passion and love he had for the game. He has indicated to me he's excited to follow Merrimack women's hockey going forward. He'll have a vested interest in those games, Brock, thank you for everything. 

I'm sure there are so many others to thank, and if I've omitted anyone it is not intentional. If you were a part of Merrimack hockey in my time there, I noticed you, I recognized you, and believe me, you were special. 

I'll only be about ten miles away this winter. I'll be keeping an eye on the Warriors and pulling for your success. I'm excited to come back to Lawler on October 26th with the River Hawks. Please come by and say hello if you are there. Know that you will always have a piece of my heart. Thank you Merrimack, for your love, your support, and your friendship. It has been a sincere pleasure. 

Baseball Thoughts From my Broadcasting Perspective

 I thought this would be a good time to share some thoughts about the changing of the seasons. Hockey season is winding down for me, and it’s always a bittersweet time.  College hockey season is a long endeavor, and even if I feel a little tired around this time, it is always worth it. The weather is slowly turning warmer, and the second hockey ends, I automatically start thinking about baseball. It’s been ingrained in me going back to 2005 when I got my first pro baseball broadcasting gig, with the North Shore Spirit of the Can-Am league. Starting that year, I would go from hockey to baseball after having a few months off in between. It was the perfect life- broadcasting year round, covering the two sports I love most. 

In fact, it was that way for 15 years. Until 2020. COVID 19 landed on our shores. Prior to the arrival of this nasty disease, I ended the 2019 season in heartbreaking fashion. The Lowell Spinners were 8 outs from a championship , leading the Brooklyn Cyclones in the decisive Game 3. Brooklyn would rally to win it, dashing our hopes, and preventing me from earning my first ever championship ring. It felt really awful walking out of what was then called MCU Park that night. As terrible as I felt, I was comforted by the old familiar refrain, “We’ll get them next year.”

Except there would be no next year. For anybody. COVID reared its ugly head, and we were all denied baseball in 2020. Again, I was comforted by what I felt would be everyone and everything being back to normal in 2021. For most everybody in baseball.., it was. But not me. 

The Spinners, heartbreakingly, ceased operations going forward. While every other team in our league ' ultimately found themselves a home, Lowell did not. And that meant no more broadcasting baseball during the summer. It is as hard for me today as it was four years ago. 

I feel my baseball window is closing, and fast. I’ll be 60 years old in November, and as badly as I want back in, the seeds of doubt are something I battle with every day. I try to process the thoughts that I have about this- am I too old? Does God have another plan for me? Does He need me to be there for my Mom now? Does anyone believe that I can still bring them a quality broadcast?

I feel like I have at least 12.years of calling games left. The talent is there, and the commitment is there too. When I go, I want to go out on my terms. I feel like I did back in 2005- just give me a chance, and you won’t regret it. I’m a fighter and I’ll fight until the day I die. I’m not ready to give up the chance to call baseball again. I believe I still have a lot to contribute. I don’t want a pity party. I just want to broadcast baseball again. I attached my feelings of esteem and importance to my play by play, and it haunts me to be without it. 

I’ve done my best to fill the time- books, podcasting, music, narration. I’m thankful for those things. And I’ll always have hockey. But it’s time for baseball to make its triumphant return to my life. I’m ready for it. 

Harborlight Sessions Radio Network, My New Internet Radio Station

More updates on my seemingly unending list of projects- I am pleased and proud to welcome my new Internet station to the world, called the Harborlight Sessions Radio Network. This is an endeavor that I've always wanted to do and I'm super excited about the possibilities of what I can do with it. Admittedly, I have a lot to learn. One of the things I do know is that I would like to jump in with play by play with it- in fact, I've already scheduled a game to do on the air- November 13, I'll be covering a hockey game between the Bridgewater Bandits and the Boston Jr. Terriers live at the Bridgewater Ice Arena. 

I am exploring ideas for content- of course, sports, but music I think will play a large role in this. As I said, I feel that the possibilities are endless. 

What I like most about this is the ease of how people can listen. The player is located directly on the brand new Internet radio page of my website. All that they need to do is navigate to the page and hit the play button. If you'd like to check it out, please surf on over to https://www.johnrleahy.com/internet-radio/. 

As for the name, it was born of my two favorite types of music. The word "Harborlight" came to me as I thought of my love for the tropical, laid-back music of Jimmy Buffett. That escapist, carefree, tropical kind of life. Steel drums, petal steel guitars, and ukuleles. Margaritas. This stage of my life, and my personality, is totally reflected in that laid back philosophy and those types of songs. I wanted my radio station to incorporate that.

Sessions, the other part of the name, comes from my love of Irish music, which has been a huge part of my life for over four decades. A session, or"sei-shun", as they refer to it in Gaelic, is a type of musical experience where a group of musicians sit around a table and take turns singing songs. It's great fun and usually takes place in a darkened pub with plenty of alcoholic refreshment. The funnest session I ever took part in was down in Savannah, GA, in a pub called "Kevin Barry's." It's one of the funnest experiences a musician can ever have. So I wanted a part of that too. So there you have it. The Harborlight Sessions Radio Network. 

You'll also notice the very clever artwork on the webpage that houses my station- a palm tree decorated with Irish markings. My sister Katie cleverly put that together. A very brilliant way to capture those two worlds coming together. 

I also have to thank Meg Ortel for her technical assistance. She has been invaluable in helping me with my website, and she seamlessly added the new page and got everything up and running for me. I was communicating with her today and I told her that she was helping a lifelong dream become a reality. I think she liked hearing that she was a part in this process. 

So where do I go from here? Learning, learning, and more learning. I'm learning about the mechanics of the station itself. Learning about the business aspect and how to make money at it (right now, I've got that deer in the headlights look), but I'll be reading, studying,  experimenting, and running tests. I'll make mistakes. I'll run into bumps in the road, but it will all be worth it. I'll be using a state of the art mixer with a recording function built in, so I can do post game clips. This is going to be special. 

Please forgive me if this takes a little while. I want to get everything up and running quickly, but there is a learning curve, so it may take a little time. But I'm taking action. 

All live events I'll be doing will be marked on the calendar on my website. Go to the MORE tab and then Calendar of Events. I've already put the date of the game I'll be doing on the calendar. 

It's time to get serious, and it's time to broadcast. I've spent the money. I've put the sweat into it. Now, I do what I love. Broadcasting and entertaining. Mahalo and Slainte. 

Book Updates

 I felt it was the right time to discuss how my books are coming along. As mentioned on my website, my two books, Living A King's Life and Breakaway Wisdom, are being re-released to the world. I have reached an agreement with a Pennsylvania based publishing company to re-publish the books. I have added and updated content in both books. 

The total time I was told for the publication of both books are 8-10 months. It is an involved process- but the publishers are taking care of everything. And at the end of the process, these books will be on sale everywhere- Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and of course through my personal website at johnrleahy.com. I also plan to hopefully do some book signings. It may also require a trip out to Michigan to re-promote my book about the Kalamazoo Kings. 

Living A King's Life is ahead of Breakaway Wisdom in the process, I just finalized the deal on the hockey book last week. The baseball book will be done first. 

I also plan to do an audiobook version of the baseball book. There will not be an audiobook version of the hockey book, since it was audio interviews, it wouldn't make much sense. 

My third book, Calling the Shots, will also be re-published down the road, but that one is on the back burner for now. 

To say I'm excited and impatient is an understatement. I've worked so hard to write these books and it's important to get them back out there into the world. 

All updates will occur through the website and here on the blog. Looking forward to more updates. Stay tuned! 

My Favorite Personal Hockey Story

 As a broadcaster and now podcaster,  I've seen my share of stories happen over the years. People sometimes ask me if I have a favorite story from my experiences that would rank as my favorite of all. I do, and here it is. 

On one very cold and frigid Monday afternoon in February several years ago, I was preparing to head to Boston for the annual Beanpot tournament at the TD Garden. It's an event I never miss. Walking out of my house I started to walk towards my car which was parked on the lawn near our driveway. I don't typically like to park there, I'd rather park in the street- but we had snow and they want you to pull the cars off the street during snow situations. So I'm walking to my car, and I'm walking on a sheet of ice. I took a wrong step on the ice, and I wiped out. I fell, and landed squarely on my hip. I remember my iPad flying out of my hands, sliding across the ice, breaking the protective covering. As I lay on the ground, the pain was excruciating. I thought for sure my hip was broken. I literally had to fend for myself. My phone was with me, but I was determined to get to my feet on my own. Somehow I managed to roll over and collect the items that had left my hands as I fell. I remember my wrist was killing me just as my hip was. My wife was at work so her helping me was not possible. 

It took every ounce of energy and fortitude just to get to my car. It was pure agony as I literally rolled myself over to the car. I was able to somehow unlock it and put my belongings in there. The brutal part was getting myself in the car. Lifting my leg to get situated in the car was a major challenge, to say the least. But I got there. I was sure I had a broken hip. Thank God I didn't land on my head. 

Now I'm faced with a dilemma. Do I go to the emergency room and get checked out and forego the Beanpot, or do I suck it up and try to go in to Boston? Believe me when I tell you, as I'm sitting there racked with pain I thought about what I would do. After about five minutes I came to a decision. I decided to fight through the pain and head to the Beanpot. After all, I'm a hockey guy, right? 

So I decided I'll go to the Beanpot, then go to the ER after that. I knew that moving around would be extremely difficult, so I was determined to be as stationary as possible. Driving to the T station in Braintree was OK, but getting out of the car when there to limp over to get the train was immensely painful. Needless to say, it took me a LONG time to get there. I was able to limp onto the train, and I was on my way. 

Of course, any movement by me was brutally hard. So when I got to Boston, I had to navigate getting out of the subway station and limping into the Garden. That took a long time too. 

I finally made it into the Garden, limping in to get my credential and going up to the 9th floor. The media section. I was set. 

I went down (very slowly) to the media room for dinner in between games and was sitting with my good friend and hockey guy Brion O'Connor. I remember telling him what happened. I said to him, I'm going to try and go this alone, but maybe I'll need your help to stand up. 

I wasn't sure how long I was going to last, and when I was going to leave. The pain had become excruciating- and I was determined to tough it out and leave the minute the second game ended. I remember Northeastern was playing in Game 2. And wouldn't you know it, the second game went into overtime. At the end of the third period I said, " I have to go. I can't take it anymore." So I did what I would never do under normal circumstances- I left a hockey game before it's completion. 

As I hobbled down to the North Station Orange Line train, I had the game on the radio. I'm listening to Rob Rudnick, the Huskies broadcaster, call the overtime, and then subsequently, the game winning goal on the platform waiting for the train to come. I smiled knowing that I had toughed it out. All for the love of hockey. 

I somehow managed to get on the train and get back to Braintree. I hobbled over to my car (and remember it's February, so the cold is not helping the situation).... and after gingerly getting back into my car, I drove straight to the emergency room of Woonsocket Hospital in Rhode Island, near our house. They evaluated me and found no broken bones after an X-ray- which shocked me. It as determined to be a very deep tissue bruise. It looked very purple and very ugly. But they started me on the mend. Crawling into bed at around 1:30 AM and still hurting, I had made it back safely. 

All for the love of hockey. 

My New Website Launch, Other Upcoming Projects

 Greetings friends, great to be here communicating with you again. As you are probably aware, 2022 hit me real hard. I lost my Dad to Alzheimer's Disease and we had a myriad of problems with our house. It was a constant state of stress. Consequently, some things had to be put on the back burner. This blog being one of them. 

Resolving to give this blog more attention here in 2023, let me just start by saying that I could not be more pleased at the re-launch of my personal website. You can find the site here. I have repackaged the site, incorporating all of the old material that I had, in addition to updating with fresh new content, the biggest change being the addition of audio and video play by play clips, an essential element to any broadcaster's website. Much thanks to Mike Machnik and Brock Hines for lending their voices to the clips, it really gave it a genuine feel. A HUGE thank you goes out to the Pack Network and our ESPN colleagues for assisting me with the video clips- Jared Fieldsend, who helped me capture and organize the clips, Tom Casanova, and of course, K.J. Cardinal. We have the best production crew in the business with these professionals. It was a joy working with them all season long and I look forward to more games with them in the future. 

I wanted to incorporate as much of my life as I could with the website, touching on as many facets of my creative life and interests as I could. Sportscasting is my life's work and passion, but there's more to me than just that one area- so I thought I would devote time to each of those areas- podcasting, audiobooks, music, writing, and so forth. 

As for the website itself, there are two people I need to thank. The first is Meg Ortel, from Sandbox By Design. She is a website architect- and is brilliant at what she does. I am so grateful to her for all her hard work and her patience- she walked me through some pretty technical areas- areas I knew nothing about. The website design looks fabulous and seamless. And the fact that she remains so available to answer questions is a huge help. If you want to learn more about Meg and her great work, give her business a look here. 

The second person to thank is my sister, Katie Bartel. Katie provided the creative direction for a lot of the project, helping out with photography and design applications. She pointed me in the direction of Meg, and that in and alone was huge and greatly appreciated. Her creative ability is amazing and her imagination and ingenuity was unparalleled. I'm forever grateful for her time and energy with this. Katie has a thriving business herself and her work is outstanding. Please check out her work at her online home here. 

Having the website now fully editable is so wonderful now. I migrated to the new WordPress site from Network Solutions, who I originally connected with when I first built the site many years ago with my Dad. We used a now no longer available piece of software called Microsoft Frontpage to edit things, and I edited on an old Windows machine that has since gone to computer heaven. As a result of that, for several years my website was sitting out there, dormant, and I couldn't edit it. Over a Thanksgiving meal at my sister's home last year, we got to talking about the website and how we could resurrect it. Katie directed me to Meg, and the result is the website you now see today. 

With the website now up, you'll see some cool new features, one of them being a calendar which I will be updating on a regular basis. It will have music gigs, podcast releases, broadcasts, everything. That will be fun. This has now motivated and inspired me to move on to the other area that has troubled me for years- getting my books back in circulation. It's a long story as to why they are not in circulation right now, but I have contacted a new publisher and I will be re-submitting my manuscripts to them in the hopes that we can get these books back up and on sale. Podcasts will be continuing every Wednesday, and I also plan to get the books for sale in audiobook form. Also, I endeavor to launch my Internet radio station sooner rather than later. 

So that's the latest update. Thanks for tuning in, as always. Lots of fun things to look forward to! 

Updates and Keeping Things Fresh

 It has been a while since I have been blogging, and it is good to be back. I have had some big time life challenges as of late and it has taken up virtually all of my energy and time. I went into some detail about those challenges recently on my podcast, so that will give it plenty of perspective and detail. 

Speaking of the podcast, that is the subject of this blog post. As challenging as these times have been, I have also used this time to get very deep into the world of podcasting. I thought I would take this time to share some updates about this exciting adventure I've been involved in. 

I've been podcasting for about a year and a half now and I'm enjoying it very much. I've had the chance to interview a lot of fascinating people. It's an evolving process. People have expressed to me that they really enjoy coming on the show. And I enjoy the process about learning about people and developing my listening skills, which is so important in my sister career of broadcasting. 

Anyhow, I have taken a few steps to increase awareness of the podcast. I now have a fully functioning website to showcase the podcast, which is named Airing It Out, Files From Leahy's Broadcast Booth. You can find it here. On the website, you can find a TON of cool features that I hope will keep my listeners engaged and involved. 

For example, on the podcast website itself you can leave me voice messages.... there is a purple microphone in the lower right hand corner of each page, which makes it simple to accomplish the task of leaving messages. It is also possible to leave a review of the show, in the form of a star rating as well as comments, at the bottom of the website under "reviews." 

All of the episodes I have ever recorded are on the website. You can listen to any episode you want, and search for a past guest I've had on. Also included are YouTube videos I've done, pretty much a batch of songs I've done. I also have a blog on the website, and I've already done a few blog posts on there. There are also the listener links that the podcast can be heard on (Apple, Spotify, Google, and Castro) prominently displayed. 

There is also a contact form where you can reach out and get in touch with me. 

As time goes on I will undoubtedly have more features I'll be adding, such as video podcasts. Podpage, whom I used to create the website, does a phenomenal job with all its features and support. 

I invite you all to check out my podcast website and feel free to engage with it. And of course, this information has been updated on my personal website.  My home website has everything on there about my life and career. 

So thanks for your time and please leave me your feedback!