Greatorex Named Semifinalist for Joe Concannon Award
The Gridiron Club of Greater Boston Web site: http://www.gridclubboston.com/
BOSTON -- Junior forward Landyn Greatorex (Reading, Mass.) was named a semifinalist for the 24th Joe Concannon Award, presented annually to the best American-born NCAA Division II/III hockey player in New England. Greatorex ranks third in the MASCAC in points (24) and power play goals (5) and is tied for third in assists (16).
The Joe Concannon Award was established in 2001 shortly after the passing of the longtime writer for The Boston Globe, who had a great passion for the game of college hockey while always advocating strongly for amateur athletics. Overall, thirty-two institutions are represented in the slate of candidates that includes eight players from the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC), seven from the Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10), five from the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC), ten from the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) and eight from the Conference of New England (CNE). One independent program, Keene State, also has two nominees this season.
"This year has seen as balanced a level of competition that there has ever been on the D-II/III landscape in New England," said Gridiron Club Hockey Awards Committee chairman Tim Costello. "A watch-list of over one hundred outstanding players showcased talents throughout the season to date which has made this year's group of nominees the deepest across conferences and number of teams that the committee has ever seen. While the forty semifinalists represent our largest field in the 24-year history of the Joe Concannon Award, it was an immense challenge to reduce to this list of semifinalists. While there are just a few weeks remaining in the regular season and conference tournaments, we are confident that the best players will rise to the occasion when stakes are highest." The Gridiron Club will announce the finalists and winner of the 24 th Joe Concannon Award in March, following league playoffs and before the start of NCAA Frozen Four on March 28 & 30 at a site TBD.
The Joe Concannon Award
The Gridiron Club established the Joe Concannon Award in 2001 to honor Joe, a lifelong devotee of college hockey, former member of the Walter Brown Award Selection Committee and, as a journalist, a staunch advocate for the amateur athletes he knew and covered. A native of Litchfield, Connecticut, Joe graduated from Boston University in 1961. He served as sports information director (SID) at Holy Cross before joining the Boston Globe in the late 1960's to cover college sports. Joe declined frequent invitations by his editors to write about Boston's major professional sports teams, preferring to concentrate on the colleges, distance running and golf. He authored the book Marathoning with Bill Rodgers and established the highly successful Litchfield Road Race in his hometown. Joe was a world traveler and was especially proud of his Irish heritage, frequently sojourning to the Emerald Isle. He passed away in 2000.