BOSTON -- As each of the winners of the 2024 Stanley Awards were read off by the various presenters at Big Night Live on Tuesday, applause suffused the room.
But it took Anson Carter going off script to truly bring the house down.
As the former NHL forward and current TNT and Sportsnet analyst took the stage to hand out the award for Best Marketing Campaign, the final one of the night, he brought Jack Edwards back to the stage. The former Boston Bruins play-by-play announcer was forced to retire at the end of the 2023-24 season because of a puzzling speech complication that has not been explained by doctors.
He got a standing ovation.
It was a fitting end to the presentation as the NHL honored its best in business at the sixth Stanley Awards, an event that began in Las Vegas in 2018. The awards were held during the 2024 NHL Club Business Meetings presented by Ticketmaster in Boston, hosted by the Bruins, which recognized great achievements, innovation, creativity for fan engagement, and results across all NHL clubs during the 2023-24 season.
The show, which was hosted by Kathryn Tappen, included former Bruins defenseman and Hockey Hall of Famer Ray Bourque, PWHL Boston general manager Danielle Marmer and 2024 PWHL Draft pick Sydney Bard, Bruins coach Jim Montgomery and former Bruins player Andrew Ference, along with Carter and Edwards as presenters.
The winners were chosen from 134 entries by the 32 NHL clubs, picked by an external judging panel of leaders in the sports and entertainment industry.
“I think what we want to do in honoring the clubs with the Stanley Awards is, quite frankly, recognizing the great work being done by all of our teams across the League on a daily basis in all the categories that we recognize,” said Susan Cohig, NHL executive vice president of club business affairs.
“There’s two objectives. One is to recognize the great work that’s being done, but it also creates a great forum for information sharing and best practices. Because not only do we acknowledge with the finalists and then the winners of each award, but all of our teams have access to all of the submission work so they can look and see what’s happening in other markets.”
And it helps motivate other teams, elevating everyone.
“The idea of collectively working together and sharing information has really spurred creativity, so now we have more than 130 submissions across all of our teams,” Cohig said. “Just knowing how much teams work on all of this, not only the great work that’s happening every day, but how they prepare the submissions and all of the metrics that accompany them, it’s just seeing the growth of that as well.”
The award for Marketing Campaign, a program intended to promote the club’s brand and/or a related product, service or business initative, ended up going to the Anaheim Ducks, winners for Vans Campaign, in which they released three branded shoes in collaboration with Vans. It was the club’s first Stanley Award win.
Seven other awards were handed out on Tuesday.
The Washington Capitals won for Best Social Impact and Growth Initiatives, taking the award for their All Her campaign that encourages the participation of girls in hockey. The award was for programs designed to build a healthier and more vibrant community, generating greater access, opportunity and inclusion.
“We’re dedicated to women’s hockey,” Hunter Lochmann, chief marketing officer for Monumental Sports & Entertainment, said of the award, the third for the Capitals.
The Philadelphia Flyers won Social Media Club of the Year, an award that recognizes overall excellence by a club’s social media team. It was their third Stanley Award win.
The Bruins won for Best Sponsorship Activation, taking their second Stanley Award win, this time for their JetBlue/Centennial Jersey Launch Partnership. The award honors a creative and/or successful partnership campaign, platform or promotion executed in conjunction with one or more club sports with the goal of achieving mutually beneficial brand and business objectives.
The Calgary Flames won their first award for Best Ticketing Initiative, an effort designed to generate new ticket sales or increase season ticket member sales or retention for their Scratchy Tuesday campaign.
The Vegas Golden Knights won their third Stanley Award for Game Presentation of the Year, which recognizes overall excellence by a club’s game presentation team.
“Collectively as a league, the bar, the level has been raised for game presentation throughout the entire League,” said Eric Tosi, the marketing officer of the Golden Knights. “So, to be recognized here is a tremendous honor.”
There were two new awards this year, bringing the total to eight.
The New York Islanders won for Venue Business Initiative, an award recognizing the club and arena which improved the fan experience via enhancements. The Islanders won for The Park at UBS Arena, earning their first Stanley Award.
The Dallas Stars won for Strategy, Analytics, and Innovation, their first win coming for an award that identifies overall excellence by a club’s Strategy and Analytics group.
“The awards are the culmination of recognizing the great work, but the substance of being able to talk about what happens, how it comes together, the planning, the metrics and how it all comes together during the Club Business Meetings, marrying those up together is incredibly important,” Cohig said.
