U.S. President Barack Obama saluted the Boston Bruins for their 2011 Stanley Cup championship at a White House ceremony Monday, and made a point of singling out Brad Marchand for his contributions.

Obama drew laughter from the crowd when he cited the scrappy play of Marchand, a Hammonds Plains native who went from fourth-line rookie to star performer with five goals in the last five games of the finals against the Vancouver Canucks.

“The ‘Little Ball of Hate’ shrugged off the rookie jitters,” said Obama, adding “What’s up with that nickname, man?”

The 23-year-old Marchand finished with a franchise-record 11 goals among 19 points in 25 games as the Bruins won their first Stanley Cup title in 39 years last June.

It was the latest in a string of Boston sports championships, including the Celtics in 2008, the Red Sox in 2007 and the New England Patriots in 2005. The Patriots play in next month’s Super Bowl.

“The Bruins, the Sox, the Celtics, now the Patriots. Enough already, Boston,” Obama said during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. “What’s going on, huh?”

Obama also jokingly invoked some New England slang in welcoming the Bruins, along with the Stanley Cup, to the White House.

“I know you are all wicked happy to be here,” he said.

Obama said there was no better image of the Bruins’ dominance than when Zdeno Chara, the team’s six-foot-nine defenceman and captain, hoisted the Stanley Cup above his head in Vancouver in celebration last spring.

“Which is, I’m sure, the highest that the Stanley Cup had ever been,” he said.