Hockey East Honors NESN Ahead Of 40th Anniversary Season

BOSTON — The Hockey East Association named NESN’s Eric Haugen the 2023 recipient of the Joe Concannon Award during the league’s media day at TD Garden on Tuesday.

The award, named after Boston Globe sportswriter Joe Concannon, is presented to an individual who has demonstrated an outstanding body of work in covering and/or promoting the interests of the Hockey East Association, according to the league’s website.

“This is a wonderful honor,” Haugen said. “I’m flattered, I’m proud. After 13 years at NESN and working with Hockey East, I’m a little sentimental. But most of all, I’m grateful. I’m grateful for the work so many people do on all sides of this relationship to make the partnership so successful.

“I stand here as a representative of NESN’s commitment to Hockey East and to this relationship.”

Haugen serves as NESN’s senior director, multi-platform programming. Since joining the network in 2010, Haugen has expanded NESN’s relationship with Hockey East through innovations like flex scheduling, new telecast windows, and the integration of Hockey East content into NESN’s coverage of the Boston Bruins.

“The partnership with NESN, for me personally, has always been a very big point of pride,” Hockey East associate commissioner Brian Smith said. “It’s something that I take a lot of care in and seriousness as I approach my job, making sure that we’re doing that correctly and doing it the right way. And Eric has matched that enthusiasm every step of the way.

“Now, as we work together and move forward with a newer landscape of television and Hockey East, we’ve evolved in ways that are thanks in large part to Eric’s vision, integrity and ingenuity. And I know that we’ll continue to do so for many more seasons to come.”

The partnership between NESN and Hockey East started 1984. Hockey East is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the men’s league this season.