By Tim Healey/DFP Staff

Adam Clendening’s career as a Boston University Terrier is over.

The 19-year-old defenseman signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Chicago Blackhawks Thursday, opting to forego his final two years at BU. The Blackhawks selected him in the second round (36th overall) in the 2011 NHL Draft.

“My advisor and the 'Hawks had been talking for a while, discussing things, and it ended up just being the right offer and the right time,” Clendening said.

Clendening wraps up his BU career with 59 points (nine goals, 50 assists) in 77 games over the course of two years donning scarlet and white. Clendening said he had anticipated returning to BU for his junior year – therefore adding to those totals and anchoring the Terrier defensive corps – but the Blackhawks stepped up their interest of late.

With the support of this family, Clendening decided to end his collegiate career.

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff

When 13-year-old Jenna Markow takes the ice for a hockey clinic, she looks like any other young hockey player. She wears the same helmet, same pads and same skates as other people. Still, there is one critical difference between Jenna and her peers.

Jenna has Asperger’s Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism characterized by profoundly impaired social skills, severe fixations, sensory issues and other developmental impairments or delays. She struggles to form friendships or carry on a conversation and has trouble interacting with her peers.

Still, in many ways, Jenna is an average teenager, and like other teens her age, she has discovered a love for hockey. However, learning how to play hockey as a teenager with a high-functioning form of autism is no easy task.

That’s where Athletes 4 Autism comes in. Kevin Gilroy, a BU men’s hockey player and one of the founders of Athletes 4 Autism, started the organization because of a desire to help children like Jenna. Gilroy had some experience with autistic children due to the men’s hockey team’s involvement in Autism Speaks, one of the nation’s largest autism science and advocacy organizations.

After seeing how much children at Autism Speaks events benefited from their time with the BU hockey team, Gilroy knew he wanted to do something independent of just the charity work he did with the hockey team to help autistic children reach their potential.