Canton, Mass. native leads Stonehill with 12 goals this season
Senior forward Bryan Rooney is one of 18 semifinalists for the Joe Concannon Award. |
EASTON, Mass. (February 7, 2014) – Stonehill College senior forward Bryan Rooney (Canton, Mass./New Hampton School) has been named a semifinalist for the 14th annual Joe Concannon College Hockey Award, it was announced yesterday by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston.
The award is presented annually to the best American-born college hockey player in New England playing at the Division II or III level. It was established to honor the late Joe Concannon and his lifelong devotion to college hockey and college athletics. Concannon was a journalist for the Boston Globe and former sports information director who declined to write about professional sports to focus on collegiate interscholastic athletics.
Rooney has been the offensive catalyst for Stonehill all season, and last night he tallied two goals and an assist to spark the Skyhawks to a 4-2 home triumph over Franklin Pierce University, Stonehill's seventh straight victory. The senior captain leads the team with 12 goals, and ranks second with 24 points. His point total is also the fourth-highest in the NE-10.
Rooney kicked off his senior campaign by notching his first career hat trick in Stonehill's season-opening, come from behind 7-3 victory at Southern New Hampshire University on November 2nd. He earned his third career Northeast-10 Player of the Week honor for the effort, in which all three goals were scored in the third period.
Rooney has posted five other multi-point performances this season, including on November 19th at SUNY Canton, November 30th at Franklin Pierce, December 3rd at Framingham State University, December 11th against Westfield State University, and January 20th at Saint Michael's College. He earned his second NE-10 Player of the Week award this season on December 16th, following his two-goal effort against Westfield State, a game in which Rooney potted the go-ahead goal with just 2:37 remaining in the contest.
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The senior forward has registered 86 points on 46 goals and 40 assists in 96 career games, including last night's three-point outing. As a freshman in 2010-11, Rooney totaled 13 points on ten goals and three assists, earning one NE-10 Rookie of the Week honor in the process. The following season, the forward scored eight goals to go with nine assists for 17 total points. Rooney had a breakout season as a junior in 2012-13, as he recorded 32 points evenly with 16 goals and 16 assists, while earning two Northeast-10 Player of the Week honors.
The 2013-14 campaign marks the second consecutive season that a Stonehill player has been recognized as a semifinalist for the Joe Concannon Award, as current Stonehill assistant coach and 2012-13 Northeast-10 Man of the Year Dana Borges, '13, was recognized last season. Rooney is one of two semifinalists from the NE-10, the other being Southern New Hampshire forward Joe Collins, who is currently leading the Conference with 32 points.
Stonehill (13-9-0, 8-0-0 NE-10) currently sits atop the Northeast-10 standings with eight points, and the Skyhawks have already clinched home-ice advantage for the opening round of the NE-10 Championship, which will be held at the Foxboro Sports Center on Saturday, February 22nd at 7:30 p.m. Stonehill will look to extend its seven-game winning streak, the second longest run in program history, to eight games on Saturday night at Southern New Hampshire. Stonehill has already earned two points from its series with the Penmen by virtue of winning the first two contests between the two teams this season. Stonehill defeated Southern New Hampshire 7-3 in the season opener on November 2nd, and then earned a 4-2 victory over the Penmen on January 25th.
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