News – Page 7 – Professional Hockey Writers Association

Member profiles: Guillaume Lefrançois

Posted on April 19, 2016 | by mihai | Leave a Comment

Working in the NHL’s only two-language market, La Presse hockey writer Guillaume Lefrançois wanted to find out if that was why he found it difficult to extract information from Canadiens management.

It turns out, he wasn’t the only one.

“I spoke to Pierre LeBrun, Bob McKenzie and Elliotte Friedman,” Lefrançois said this week. “What I learned and what they told me was it wasn’t just us from Montreal, it was everybody across the league finding it hard to get information out of the Montreal market.”

Flames, Panthers named winners of Dillman Award

Posted on April 13, 2016 | by mihai | Leave a Comment

The Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) is delighted to announce that the Florida Panthers and the Calgary Flames are the recipients of the Dick Dillman Award, given each season to the top public relations department in each conference.

This is Florida’s first Dillman award, and it’s no coincidence that it coincides with the arrival of Chris Wojcik, who left the Arizona Coyotes and joined the Panthers this season. Kudos to Chris and his staff – media relations coordinator Michael Lewis, Director of Digital Media Addie Biedenback and public relations coordinator Chrissy Parente – for their diligence and cooperation.

A farewell to the daily miracle

Posted on January 25, 2016 | by mihai | Leave a Comment

At the end, the personal effects from my desk and a filing cabinet fit into two banker’s boxes, neither bulging at the seams.

The memories, if they weren’t abstract, would have filled a moving van.

After almost 30 years spent during two stops, after several thousand bylined stories and a few million words, I took my leave from the Montreal Gazette mid-afternoon last Friday.

Amid lengthening shadows stretching down Ste. Catherine St., the city’s decades-ago “usual-route” Stanley Cup parade path, I considered my new writing home two blocks to the east and one to the north – the 26th-floor Montreal offices of the National Hockey League.

Voting totals from the 2015 NHL Awards

Posted on June 24, 2015 | by mihai | Leave a Comment

Check out the final tallies for the NHL Awards as voted by the PHWA

McKenzie honored with 2015 Elmer Ferguson

Posted on June 4, 2015 | by mihai | Leave a Comment

Hockey Hall Of Fame announces NHL Media Awards

Scott Burnside, President of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association, and Chuck Kaiton, President of the NHL Broadcasters’ Association, announced today that Bob McKenzie will receive the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award for excellence in hockey journalism and Nick Nickson will receive the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster.

Positional clarifications for voting

Posted on April 13, 2015 | by mihai | Leave a Comment

Attention PHWA members:

Here are five positional clarifications, for those members voting on NHL Awards. When selecting your All-Star teams, vote for the following players at the position listed ONLY:

• Alex Ovechkin, WSH – LW
• Jiri Hudler, CGY – RW
• Dustin Byfuglien, WPG – D
• Rick Nash, NYR – LW
• Nick Foligno, CBJ – RW

Portzline earns APSE honor

Posted on April 9, 2015 | by mihai | Leave a Comment

Columbus Dispatch reporter Aaron Portzline earns first-place award

In the infancy of the 2014-15 season, Aaron Portzline delivered a story that almost seemed impossible. Today, it became an award-winner.

On Nov. 20, 2014, Portzline’s “Blind-sided: Blue Jackets’ Jack Johnson is bankrupt; who led him there is biggest shocker,” rocked the hockey — and sports — world; a hockey player was bankrupt, partially at the hands of his parents.

2015 Masterton Nominees

Posted on April 3, 2015 | by mihai | Leave a Comment

A full rundown of the 2015 Bill Masterton Memorial Award nominees

The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is awarded to the player who “best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication” — traits to which almost everyone aspires.

Here are the 2015 nominees as named by the individual PHWA Chapters.

Flyers, Stars winners of 2014-15 Dillman Award

Posted on April 1, 2015 | by mihai | Leave a Comment

Dillman Committee names this season’s top PR staffs.

Zack Hill (center) and the Philadelphia Flyers were named the top PR staff in the Eastern Conference.

The PHWA is proud to announce that the Dallas Stars and Philadelphia Flyers are this season’s recipient of the Dick Dillman Award, given annually to the top PR department in each conference.

The Flyers win ends a two-year streak for Matt Chmura and the Boston Bruins PR department and is Philadelphia’s second Dillman award in four years. The tireless work and constant cooperation of senior director Zack Hill and his staff that includes Joe Siville and Brian Smith in a demanding market earned Philadelphia the recognition of the Dillman committee.

Q & A With Scott Burnside

Posted on February 22, 2015 | by mihai | Leave a Comment

The Professional Hockey Writers Association is made up of writers from a variety of backgrounds. Everyone’s relationship with hockey, or how they were drawn to the sport, is different.

Earlier this week, Kelly Erickson caught up with PHWA President, Scott Burnside, to talk about his role with the organization and some of his career highlights.