Dave Hendrickson, U.S. College Hockey Online’s beat writer and columnist for Hockey East, has been named the recipient of the league’s 2001 Joe Concannon Media Award.
The Concannon Award, selected by the sports information directors of the league’s nine schools as well as league staff, is named for the long-time Boston Globe staff writer who passed away in 2000. It is the first time that the award has been presented to a person working for a primarily online publication.
“It’s an amazing honor to be included in the same sentence with the past winners of this award,” said Hendrickson, who has covered Hockey East since USCHO’s inception in 1996. “I’m especially happy to win an award named after Joe Concannon. Near the end of USCHO’s first year of existence, Joe told me that he’d followed college hockey while he was vacationing in Australia by reading my columns. His encouragement was a great thing to hear at that time.
“To do what you love is a great thing in life. Writing is one of my passions and college hockey is another. To be able to combine the two gives me a great sense of satisfaction.”
The presentation was made Monday by Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna at the league’s annual Media Day in Boston.
“Our SIDs appreciate Dave as someone they can go to and who provides fair, objective and quality coverage,” said Bertagna. “It was a fairly strong vote in his favor, which tells you a lot. The nature of our sport with its hardcore fans thirsting for information lends itself perfectly to the work Dave and USCHO do, which is always very professional and serves our sport well.”
“USCHO has always been about giving the college hockey community the best of everything and Dave is the epitome of USCHO’s mindset,” said USCHO.com general manager Jayson Moy. “To have Dave recognized by Hockey East is a tremendous honor for USCHO and for Dave. Dave is a first-class writer and deserves every accolade that is bestowed upon him.”
Hendrickson resides in Georgetown, Mass. with his wife Brenda, daughter Nicole, 18, and son Ryan, 17.
