GORHAM, Maine – Senior Austin Marini (Hyde Park, Mass./Catholic Memorial) of the University of Southern Maine Huskies' men's ice hockey team has been named one of 38 semifinalists of the 2024 Joe Concannon Award, presented annually to the best American-born college hockey player in New England at the Division II/III level by the Gridiron Club of the Greater Boston.
 
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 the game of college hockey while always advocating strongly for amateur athletics.
 
Marini is having a career-best season for the Huskies with eight goals and 14 assists for a team-leading 22 points. He was recently named the New England Hockey Conference Player of the Week after tallying six points over the weekend for the Huskies with two goals and four assists. He scored twice and had three assists in the Huskies' 7-2 win over Vermont State University Castleton on Friday night. His first goal in the game served as the fifth game-winning goal of his career. He is now tied for seventh in program history in game-winning goals. Marini has totaled 22 goals and 34 assists over 71 career games for the Huskies.  

The field of 38 semifinalists is the largest in the history of the award surpassing last year's record of 33. Marini is one of five New England Hockey Conference players on the list of semifinalists. This marks the second consecutive season in which the Huskies have had a semifinalist of the award. Marini's linemate Curtis Judd (Newton, Mass./Albany Academy) was a semifinalist last year.
 
Marini and the Huskies are 8-12-3 this season and have a 5-8-3 record in conference play. They are entering this weekend's series against New England College and No. 9 Norwich University in seventh place in the conference standings and will be making their return to the conference tournament after missing the cut last season.