BOSTON – Gridiron Club of Greater Boston announced today that Curry College goaltender Shane Soderwall is the winner of the 24th Joe Concannon Award, presented annually to the best American-born college hockey player in New England at the Division-II/III level.

The sophomore has led his team to their first Frozen Four appearance, hosted by Utica University, on March 28th. Soderwall has played in 27 games, posting a 1.45 goals-against average with a .945 save percentage and a Curry record eight shutouts. He has a 24-3-0 record and earned Player of the Year, Goaltender of the Year, and 1st team All-CNE honors while leading the Colonels to the CNE regular season and conference tournament championships.

Soderwall surrendered just one goal in Saturday's 4-1 win over Hamilton in the NCAA quarterfinals while making thirty-seven saves to backstop the top-seeded Colonels. "Shane is a special kid, very humble and an incredibly hard worker," noted Curry head coach Peter Roundy. "He took a chance on us, coming here last year, and believed in our vision for the program. He has great physical talent, but what separates him is the mindset. He is a very positive influence with the team, and he knows what he wants. When he took the crease last year, he built up his experience and had remarkable success, earning the Goaltender and Rookie of the Year honors in the conference. With all that, he still works like he is a back-up goaltender and continually improves his craft. I am very proud of Shane's winning this prestigious award, as it recognizes both his performance as well as our program."

Soderwall was a clear frontrunner over the remaining finalists in the balloting. Each of the finalists had superb seasons.

The Joe Concannon Award was established in 2001 shortly after the passing of the longtime writer for The Boston Globe, who had a great passion for college hockey while always advocating strongly for amateur athletics.