AMHERST, Mass. -- Jack Arena '83, who was the head men's hockey coach at Amherst for 42 years and 41 seasons before retiring from coaching in May of 2025, will be honored by the New England Hockey Writers Association with the Parker-York Award for Contribution to New England Hockey at the organization's annual end-of-year banquet on Sunday, April 19, at the Prince Restaurant in Saugus, MA.

Arena was named head coach at Amherst College prior to the 1983-1984 season, following a highly successful playing career at Orr Rink. Arena retired after the 2024-25 season after racking up 537 career victories in 41 seasons behind the bench. At the time of his retirement, Arena was ranked the 26th all-time winningest coach by victories across all NCAA divisions and was the 12-ranked all-time winningest Division III coach by victories.

A two-time American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) Division III National Coach of the Year (2012, 2015), Arena mentored two Sid Watson Award winners – an accolade presented to the Division III National Player of the Year by the AHCA – and eight AHCA All-Americans. In addition to his men's ice hockey head coaching duties, Arena also acted as the head coach of the men's golf team from 1994-95 until 2019-2020.

A native of Randolph, MA, Arena was the 1983 Hobey Baker Award winner as the best player in Division III during his senior season and owns a master's degree from the University of Massachusetts. He and his wife, Diane Arena '84, are the proud parents of two daughters, Emily and Ellen, and two sons, Patrick '16 and John '18.