ORONO – University of Maine senior right winger and co-captain John Ronan has made his mark as an effective third or fourth line role player who has scored some important goals during his four-year career.

He scored overtime game-winners against Harvard in the NCAA Tournament and Boston College during the regular season.

Ronan entered this season with 14 goals and 13 assists in 95 games.

But Ronan has taken a more prominent offensive role this season, collecting five goals and six assists in 15 games going into this weekend’s Hockey East series with visiting Merrimack College.

Maine lost its top two goal scorers from a year ago in Todd Jackson (21) and Colin Shields (18). And Dustin Penner, who scored 11 goals, passed up his senior year to sign with Anaheim.

“When you have the [captain’s] ‘C’ on your shirt, you should definitely elevate your game,” Ronan said. “You have to be prepared to play every night. That’s definitely a big reason why I’ve got some points on the board.

“We have all had to pick up the slack. Being a senior, I’ve had to do it,” he added. “Obviously, I’m not going to get as many as Jackson or Shields. But every little bit helps and the guys all have the same mentality.”

Junior center Derek Damon said he knew Ronan would be ready to produce offensively.

“I played against him in juniors [Eastern Junior Hockey League] and he had a lot of points. I saw what he could do and I reminded him at the beginning of the year,” said Damon.

Ronan led the EJHL in scoring his last season with 83 points in 35 games for Walpole.

Senior defenseman Troy Barnes said it’s “fun to see him putting the puck in the net.

“I always knew he could. He has an absolute cannon of a shot. I wish I had a shot like that,” said Barnes.

In addition to playing a regular shift and killing penalties, Ronan has become a regular on the power play for the first time in his career.

“I got the odd shift here and there on the power play last year but I’ve been out there consistently this year. It’s fun. I love being out there in any situation,” said Ronan.

The 5-foot-11, 215-pound Ronan, a native of South Boston, is an extremely popular leader among his teammates.

“He’s the heart and soul of us,” said junior defenseman Steve Mullin. “He’s obviously scoring goals and everything but he stands up in the dressing room [and motivates the players]. He’s a leader on the team obviously. That’s why he’s wearing the ‘C’. And he deserves it.”

Ronan has been pleased with his play so far and said although the team struggled early, “we’re moving in the right direction.”

The Maine-Merrimack series will be a rematch of last March’s tight quarterfinal series won my Maine 2-1, 3-2.

Maine beat Merrimack 3-0 in No. Andover, Mass. in October.