It’s official. Bangor sportscaster Dan Hannigan is the new radio voice of the University of Maine hockey team.

Dale Duff, program director for Black Bear hockey flagship station WZON (620 AM) in Bangor, confirmed Wednesday that Hannigan has been hired to replace Joe Carr, who resigned to spend more time with his family.

“It’s pretty much a done deal,” said Duff. “We had to work out conflicts with his job at WVII and calling the games.”

Being WVII’s sports director, Hannigan certainly was likely to have conflicts between his TV and radio duties.

“What it’s going to be is, obviously, a longer week for me,” Hannigan said. “But I consider it a fun week. I don’t see it as being a conflict because the station has given me the okay and asked me to lay out the schedule.”

Still, won’t Hannigan’s duties at WVII force him to miss at least a few games?

“He’s on board for all the games,” answered Duff.

Assistant sports director Mike Schoor will now do the WVII sports report three days a week. Hannigan will handle the other four.

“I think it’s win-win in that regard because Mike is getting more time anchoring,” Hannigan said. “And it’s a tremendous opportunity for me. If you look at play-by-play jobs in the state, you don’t get much better than Maine hockey.”

Hannigan has little play-by-play experience, but both he and Duff expect him to be up to the challenge.

“There are no scripts. It’s completely live,” Hannigan explained. “It means I’ve got to bury myself in the team and know what I’m going to be talking about. The key to play-by-play is preparation.”

“I have no qualms. Dan’s a professional,” said Duff. “We have a guy who knows the team and knows the broadcast business. I think he’ll be very, very good.”

There may not be conflicts regarding time, but there is the potential for conflicts of interest.

For instance, what if Hannigan digs up an exclusive story about the hockey team on a Friday. He’s not scheduled to work at WVII that day, but he is doing a game on radio that night. Does he give WZON the scoop as he’s doing the game or does he save it to use on WVII?

“I don’t think he’ll sit on anything. It just depends on [who he’s working for] at the time,” said Duff.

“We’ve touched on it,” said Hannigan. “I would say it depends where I am when I found something out. Whichever one comes first, the obligation is to make it public. First and foremost, my loyalty is to Channel 7. If I get some information during a game, I think if I’m given the option, I really ought to get word to Channel 7.”

Hannigan added that the ideal situation for him would be to discuss his options with both WZON and WVII officials should he get a scoop.

“Hopefully,” said Hannigan, “that kind of thing won’t come up too many times.”