COLCHESTER, Vt. - Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey sophomore goaltender Evan Plunkett (Charlotte, N.C./Holderness School) has been chosen among 36 semifinalists for the 25th Joe Concannon Award, presented annually to the best American-born Division II/III men's player in New England. The field is chosen by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston. Plunkett was one of six goalies named a semifinalist.
 
Among five Northeast 10 Conference players under consideration, Plunkett gives Saint Michael's at least one Concannon semifinalist for the sixth straight cycle, following David Ciancio '25 and Case Kantgias '25 (2024-25), Brennan McFarland '24 (2023-24), Jeremy Routh '23 (2022-23) and Sel Narby '22 (2019-20 and 2021-22); the award was not handed out in 2020-21. Ryan Mero '09 (2008-09), Josh Geary '13 (2012-13) and Danny Divis '17 (2016-17) have also been semifinalists. Ciancio became his program's first finalist last year.
 
Plunkett leads the NE10 in wins (10) and is second in save percentage (.946), goals-against average (1.98) and shutouts (2). He already holds the school record for career shutouts (6) and is sixth in victories (24). Plunkett is fourth in NCAA men's ice hockey across all divisions in save percentage.
 
Plunkett turned in a historic 2024-25 season while backstopping the Purple Knights to their sixth NE10 Championship title. He set school records for shutouts (4), save percentage (.935) and GAA (2.22), shattering the latter two marks (.921 and 2.44). His 14 wins were the most by a Purple Knight since Nick Dion '99 posted 15 during the 1998-99 national championship season. Plunkett landed on the NE10 All-Conference second team, becoming the second Purple Knight first-year goalie to claim an all-league spot, and the first since Chris Yurco '01 in 1997-98.
 
The Gridiron Club plans to announce the finalists and winner of the award in March. The Gridiron Club established the Joe Concannon Award in 2001 to honor the late Concannon, a lifelong devotee of college hockey and, as a journalist, a staunch advocate for the amateur athletes he knew and covered. A native of Litchfield, Conn., Concannon graduated from Boston University in 1961 and served as sports information director at the College of the Holy Cross before joining the Boston Globe in the late 1960s to cover college sports.