BOSTON – Junior Justin Selep of the Suffolk hockey team has been tabbed a semifinalist for the Joe Concannon Award, given annually to the best American-born college hockey player in New England at the NCAA Division II/III level, Gridiron Club of Great Boston President Jim Kearney announced this morning. Selep is included in a list of 22 top hockey players across two divisions in New England collegiate hockey and highlights the early hopefuls of the 16th annual honor.
Selep, a forward from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ranks in the top-20 nationally in goals (0.67 – T18) and short-handed goals (0.10 – T5) per game, leads the team in points (25) and goals (14), which rank third and second in the ECAC Northeast, respectively. His four game-winners, which are good for top amongst the Rams, tie six other skaters across the country for fourth most nationally. The two-time ECAC Northeast Player of the Week also sits second on the team in helpers with 11.
This season has been nothing short of highlight worthy for Selep who strung together a seven-game point streak from November 19 through January 9 that comprised of five goals and six assists including a career-high game of four points off his first collegiate hat trick and one handout at Franklin Pierce January 9. The 6-foot-3 skater was also a crucial ingredient in Suffolk's record setting 9-5 victory at UMass Dartmouth January 21. He netted two pucks to help the Rams score the most goals by a team in a single game since the Rams scored 11 in an 11-4 victory over Franklin Pierce December 4, 2002. The nine goals also marked the most by a squad in the Chris Glionna era and the most goals scored on the road according to Suffolk's record books, which date back to the 1999-2000 season.
Selep, who is the first player from Suffolk to make the list since Kyle Cook '09 in 2009, is one of 12 forwards on the biggest list of semifinalist since the award's inaugural year in 2001. The semifinalist also includes six versatile defensemen and four outstanding goaltenders, including last year's winner Jamie Murray from nationally-ranked Babson. Selep is also one of six skaters for the ECAC Northeast conference recognized.
The Gridiron Club will narrow down the list to finalist and announced the winner of the 16th Joe Concannon Award in March, prior to the start of NCAA Division III Frozen Four. The winner will be invited to the New England Hockey Writers dinner in April.
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.