Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

First Posted: 2/9/2015

Ryan Flanagan did not need much time to show he could handle the jump to junior hockey.

Competing against players as many as four years older than him, the high school junior from Duryea raced to the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League goal-scoring lead and has remained among the leaders all season while playing for the Vermont Lumberjacks.

Flanagan turned 17 in November, after he had already made his junior hockey debut with three straight multi-goal games and scored 21 goals, including a five-goal effort and another hat trick, in his first 12 games.

“I had a little bit of a feeling that this was the year I would turn around and start working my way back up,” Flanagan said.

Flanagan has been part of successful teams in the past, including playing a secondary role on the 2012 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Junior Knights team that won the USA Hockey Bantam Major national championship.

Following three seasons with the Knights’ various age-group teams in which he averaged a little more than a goal every three games, Flanagan spent his sophomore year playing with the Pittston Area high school team and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Junior Penguins. His performance there led Flanagan to be invited to join a team of primarily Rhode Island players for the Chowder Cup in Boston.

When Flanagan put everything together in his third Chowder Cup game, he emerged from the locker room as a player who scouts were waiting to see, leading to his chance to play in Vermont.

Flanagan had more than just a feeling he was ready for a breakthrough year. He spent his summer doing the work to make sure he was ready to make the most of an opportunity to not only play at a higher level, but also land a more prominent role.

“I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better as a player,” Flanagan said. “I’ve gotten in better shape and I’ve been working on my shot. That’s probably the strongest thing I have going for me.”

That work started before he hit the ice. Flanagan took 100 shots a day outside his house during the summer.

It showed.

“He can really shoot,” said Doc DelCastillo, the head coach of the Lumberjacks Eastern Hockey League team, who also helps with the Metropolitan team and coached it on an interim basis last weekend. “He has a heavy shot and he knows when to use it.

“He’s strong around the net and he has a quick release. He can score from a lot of different places.”

Flanagan scored often early. He praises his teammates for continuing to look for him and help him create more chances.

His production has dropped slightly through the wear-and-tear of a junior season and the grind of being the player opponents now focus on stopping. Still, Flanagan has 36 goals and 24 assists in 33 games to help Vermont win the Francis Division and become the first Metropolitan team to clinch a division title this season.

Making the move to Burlington was not without its complications.

Maureen Flanagan, Ryan’s mother, said she was counting on the younger of her two children to be at home for two more years. She had to let go early and get comfortable with the idea of Ryan living with a host family while attending a high school in Vermont where it was arranged for his schedule to be complete by 1 p.m. each day for hockey.

“It was definitely something I wanted to do from the start,” Ryan said, “but my mom was a bit iffy about it.”

An early adjustment in host families landed Ryan, along with linemate and team captain Lucas Ethington, at the home of teammate Devon Wells in Colchester, Vt.

“He’s with a phenomenal family,” Maureen Flanagan said. “I was so excited when all of this started to happen.

“This is his passion.”

That passion has Flanagan again drawing attention from recruiters and opening up the possibility of again bumping up to a higher level of junior hockey either in the United States or Canada and a chance at another fresh start next season.