The Gridiron Club of Greater Boston announced Wednesday that Trinity sophomore Devon Bobak is the winner of the 23rd Joe Concannon Award, presented annually to the best American-born college hockey player in New England at the Division II/III level.
The 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.
Bobak led his team to the 2024 Frozen Four, hosted by Trinity at the Koeppel Community Center in Hartford, Conn., on March 21 and March 23. Thus far this season, Bobak has played in 28 games, posting a 24-3-1 record with a 1.20 goals-against average, a .943 save percentage, and seven shutouts. He earned player of the year and first team all-NESCAC honors while leading the Bantams to both the regular-season and conference tournament championships. His seventh shutout was a 2-0 blanking of Elmira in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals.
Trinity faces Adrian in the NCAA semifinal round on March 21. In the other semifinal game, defending champion Hobart takes on Utica.
“I am so pumped for Devon,” said Trinity coach Matt Greason in a news release. “He is an unreal kid and just super humble, but he really deserves this great honor. He has been outstanding for us all season and raises the energy of the whole team. He calms everything down for us with a level of levity that just keeps everybody calm and focused. He always has a smile on his face and is a very hard worker on the ice and in the classroom. He also carries a couple of part-time jobs to maintain his Trinity experience. While he doesn’t like the spotlight or individual recognition, I hope he will embrace winning this important award for D-II/III hockey.”
Bobak was a clear winner over the five remaining finalists in the balloting – Endicott senior forward Andrew Kurapov, Assumption junior forward Ronny Paragallo, Tufts junior forward Tyler Sedlak, Curry freshman goaltender Shane Soderwall, and Plymouth State junior forward Connor Tait.
“This season has truly shown great team and individual performances across each of the conferences and the region at the D-II/III level,” said Gridiron Club hockey awards committee chairman Tim Costello. “The committee had a particularly challenging time in reducing the field of semifinalists. But this group of special players, led by Devon in particular, separated themselves from the pack with tremendous individual play and strong impact on team results to garner the special attention of the members. Devon is the third recipient from Trinity and the tenth to win from NESCAC. The last NESCAC player to win the Concannon Award was Walker Harris of Wesleyan in 2020.”
The Joe Concannon Award will be presented at the New England College Hockey Writers’ Dinner on April 23 in Saugus, Mass.
