Dear NEHJ reader,
New England Hockey Journal means the world to me.
Nearly 25 years ago, my father and I started NEHJ on a shoestring in the garage of our family home in Quincy, Mass. I still remember the cold winter days when we could see our breath as we put those first issues together. As a former hockey player, I wanted to know everything I could about hockey, especially about other players from New England, and I believed that there were other people like me who wanted access to more information and more stories about players and teams in our backyard. So our ambition was to create the best regional hockey publication in the nation and share the inspirational stories of New England’s hockey community.
I was right. Readers like you have embraced New England Hockey Journal from its first days to today, and I simply cannot thank you enough. Your interest and your support — along with our advertising partners — have helped NEHJ continually evolve, expand and improve over the years. I’m so proud that it has become the best regional hockey publication, and it remains my greatest professional passion.
Because of your valued support, I want to share with you some important updates about New England Hockey Journal.
First, over the past year, we have made enormous investments of resources to improve, upgrade and grow our coverage and our platforms, especially on the digital side. We have overhauled and bulked up our digital edition with additional content on a near-daily basis that caters to our target audience of players and parents. Our investment in our digital coverage has been very well received and has helped produce dramatic results, including traffic from throughout North America and around the world, proving that the NEHJ community wants only more original content aimed at the amateur levels.
So in order to best deliver that content, today we launched our new website at staging.hockeyjournal.com that will better showcase our new coverage and be a lot more reader-friendly. With that, we also — for the first time — will be requiring readers to become paying subscribers. Some content will remain free, but most of our content will be premium and available only to subscribers. Subscribers also will have access to the digital edition of the print magazine (including back issues) and our complete library of NEHJ TV episodes. In order to try out our new site, we are offering a free preview for the first week. All content will be accessible for free until Monday, June 4.
Of course, we will continue to publish our best-in-class monthly print magazine, featuring the best and most inspiring stories from around the region. For its entire existence, the print magazine has been distributed free at local rinks and retailers. As we continue to evolve to provide the best hockey content to our committed readers, the print magazine soon will be available only at select locations. We already have begun a successful partnership program with local hockey organizations to distribute the magazine directly to their members’ homes. The only other way to ensure continuing to receive New England Hockey Journal will be to subscribe and have it delivered directly to your home or work.
With our new changes in print and digital, we are introducing three new membership plans with special rates, if you act by July 31:
ALL ACCESS (print and digital): Enjoy the print edition of NEHJ delivered to your home every month, PLUS full access to all content on staging.hockeyjournal.com. $114.99 per year — a 30 percent savings.
DIGITAL ONLY: Get full access to all content on staging.hockeyjournal.com. Special trial offer of $0.99 for the first month, then $9.99 per month. OR save 25 percent will an annual subscription for only $89.99 per year.
PRINT ONLY: Receive the print magazine delivered to your home. Trial offer of $5.99 for the first three months, then $44.99 per year.
The best way — and the best deal — to ensure access to everything NEHJ has to offer, including the print edition, is to become an All Access member.
I hear from readers almost every day about how much they love and value New England Hockey Journal. And we’ve strived for two decades to deliver great content to reach the most readers possible. With the appetite for even more content and our investment in creating it, I’m confident that readers like you will continue to support our efforts.
Our company’s mission is “to inspire and inform amateur athletes and their supporters by sharing compelling stories and insightful advice to help further their development throughout their careers.” I truly believe that our new direction is the best way to fulfill our mission and continue to provide you with the very best hockey coverage in New England. And I hope that you will continue to support NEHJ and give our new digital coverage the attention it deserves.
We will continue to be the premier resource for inspiration, information and insight. We’ve come a long way from the early days in my parents’ garage, but New England Hockey Journal is only just beginning.
Sincerely,
Eric Seamans
Publisher
New England Hockey Journal
