News from
The Gridiron Club of Greater Boston
Tim Costello, Gridiron Club Hockey Awards Committee Chairman
(732) 425-5922 Email: [email protected]
Web site: www.gridclubofgreaterboston.com
Babson Goaltender Jamie Murray Wins 15th Annual Joe Concannon Award
as New England’s Best American-born Player in Division II-III College Hockey
Junior had 1.68 goals-against average, led nation in shutouts and minutes played
BOSTON – MARCH 26, 2015 – Gridiron Club of Greater Boston president Jim Kearney
announced today that junior goaltender Jamie Murray (Scituate, MA) of Babson College is
winner of the 15th annual Joe Concannon Award, which recognizes New England’s best
American-born hockey player in Divisions II and III.
Murray led the Beavers to the ECAC East title game, where they lost 3-2 to top-ranked Norwich
and just missed repeating as conference champions. He finished among the nation’s leaders in
goals against average (1.68) and save percentage (.940). He tied Saint Thomas College senior
Drew Fielding for the most shutouts (6), and he led the nation in minutes played (1680:33).
Murray’s other honors include being a first-team ECAC East all-conference selection as well as
repeating as the league’s goaltender of the year. Additionally, Murray is one of five finalists
nominated for the Hockey Humanitarian Award, which recognizes off-ice charitable work in
the community. In addition to his support of the Special Olympics and other events, Jamie
established the Cure for Cole WiffleBall Tournament in 2010 to raise money for a neighbor
battling a chronic disease. The tournament draws over 40 teams and 200 players annually and
has raised over $25,000 to date.
Babson head coach Jamie Rice stated, “This is a great honor for Jamie who had a great and
extremely consistent season. His numbers say a lot, but he really played at a high level nearly
every game and virtually all the minutes for us. He would probably thank his teammates. They
always had great confidence that he would give up one or two goals at most, which always gives
your team a chance to win.”
Rice added, “Jamie is just a great kid and really focused on his game. He never missed a practice
and always had that level of intensity and preparation required to be successful against the highcaliber opponents we play in our league and our non-conference schedule. He is the first Babson
player to win the award among many worthy nominees we have had considered in the past. He is
a very worthy winner for what he does on the ice and more so, off the ice as well.”
An extremely competitive field of finalists from other New England conferences competed with
Murray for this year’s Concannon Award. Senior forward Stephen Buco (North Providence, RI)
from Massachusetts-Boston starred in the ECAC East Conference along with senior defenseman
Alec Thieda (Rochester Hills, MI) from Norwich University. Junior goaltender Alex Larson
(Madison, AL) from Nichols College led the Bison to the ECAC Northeast title. Junior forward
Joe Collins (Mansfield, MA) from Southern New Hampshire University represented Division II
and the NE-10 conference as a repeat nominee.
Buco finished the season with 16 goals and 32 assists for 48 points in 27 games played. He led
the Beacons to a national ranking for most of the season and his point total was tops in the nation
at the D-III level. Buco was a first team all-conference selection in the ECAC East.
Collins led the SNHU Penmen in scoring this season with 13 goals and 29 assists for 42 points
and surpassed the century mark in career points in just 73 games played. A special-team force as
well, Collins led the team with eight power play goals.
Jamie Murray Wins 2015 Joe Concannon Award
Page 2
Larson backstopped the Bison to the ECAC Northeast title and an NCAA tournament berth. He
finished with a1.77 goals-against average and .952 save percentage and was named first team allconference and co-goaltender of the year. He had 40 or more saves in six games.
Thieda was an end-to-end performer from his position on the blue line for Norwich University,
which won the ECAC East championship and was ranked number one nationally for much of the
season. Thieda finished the season with 20 points, and two of his three goals were game winners.
He was a first team all-conference selection, and he played in 114 games in his Cadet career.
“This year’s exciting play and depth of strong teams in all conferences was quite evident at the DII/III levels in New England where several teams were ranked nationally in the top ten during the
course of the season,” noted committee chairman Tim Costello.
“Every nominee had a truly outstanding season among many more performances across the
region. All of the nominees are great examples of the college and amateur athletes that Joe
Concannon so very much enjoyed covering and recognizing during his tenure as a sportswriter at
The Boston Globe. Jamie Murray, with his superb on-ice skills and off-ice contributions to the
community make him an ideal choice for this year’s Joe Concannon Award.”
The 2015 Joe Concannon Award will be presented at the New England Hockey Writers’ Dinner
in April, following the Division I Frozen Four.
Joe Concannon Award Winners
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Keith Aucoin
Michael Carosi
Nick Stauder
Jim Pancyzkowski
Michael O’Sullivan
Brian Doherty
Joseph Ori
Adam Dann
Greg Osborne
Tom Maldonado
Jeff Landers
Coleman Noonan
Josh Harris
Jeremiah Ketts
Colin Mulvey
Jackson Brewer
Jamie Murray
Norwich University
Bowdoin College
Salem State College
Wesleyan University
Curry College
Curry College
Trinity College
Bowdoin College
Colby College
Middlebury College
Amherst College
St. Anselm College
Castleton College
Johnson & Wales University
Norwich University
Trinity College
Babson College
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 wrote 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.
2015-2016 Gridiron Club of Greater Boston Officers: Jim Kearney, President; Tom Lamb, First Vice President; Chris
Clemente, Second Vice President; Dick Lawrence, Secretary/Treasurer, Ned Cully, Historian.
2015-2016 Gridiron Club Hockey Awards Selection Committee and Advisory Board: Tim Costello, Chairman; Joe
Bertagna, Tom Burke, Jim Connelly, Ned Cully, Bob DeGregorio, Kevin Fleming, Steve Hagwell, Nancy MarrapeseBurrell, Hon. Gordon A. Martin, Jr., Paul McNamara, and William J. Stewart III.
Press Contacts:
Tim Costello, Committee Chairman
Phone: 732-425-5922
Tom Burke, Communications Director Phone: 617-323-5694
[email protected]
[email protected]