SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League announced today the individual team winners of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year awards, selected by their respective clubs for their outstanding contributions to the local community and charitable organizations during the 2017-18 season.
From this list of finalists, representatives from IOA/American Specialty and the AHL will choose the winner of the 2017-18 Yanick Dupre Memorial Award. The AHL’s annual Man of the Year award is named after the late Yanick Dupre, who died in 1997 at the age of 24 following a 16-month battle with leukemia. Dupre, an AHL All-Star in 1995, played four seasons with the Hershey Bears and also skated in 35 National Hockey League games with the Philadelphia Flyers.
This year’s winners of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year awards are:
Ryan Hamilton, Bakersfield Condors (1st-time winner)
Ben Sexton, Belleville Senators (1st)
Austin Cangelosi, Binghamton Devils (1st)
Kyle Burroughs, Bridgeport Sound Tigers (2nd)
Philip Samuelsson, Charlotte Checkers (1st)
Scooter Vaughan, Chicago Wolves (1st)
Brad Thiessen, Cleveland Monsters (1st)
Tom McCollum, Grand Rapids Griffins (4th)
Chris Nell, Hartford Wolf Pack (1st)
Mason Mitchell, Hershey Bears (1st)
Sam Anas, Iowa Wild (1st)
Chris Terry, Laval Rocket (1st)
Danick Martel, Lehigh Valley Phantoms (2nd)
Darren Kramer, Manitoba Moose (1st)
Jack Dougherty, Milwaukee Admirals (2nd)
Brett Sutter, Ontario Reign (1st)
Tommy Cross, Providence Bruins (2nd)
Nathan Paetsch, Rochester Americans (2nd)
Collin Delia, Rockford IceHogs (1st)
Mason Geertsen, San Antonio Rampage (1st)
Nic Kerdiles, San Diego Gulls (1st)
Antoine Bibeau, San Jose Barracuda (1st)
Ed Wittchow, Springfield Thunderbirds (1st)
Colby Robak, Stockton Heat (1st)
Daniel Walcott, Syracuse Crunch (1st)
Travis Morin, Texas Stars (1st)
Colin Greening, Toronto Marlies (1st)
Dakota Mermis, Tucson Roadrunners (1st)
Jaime Sifers, Utica Comets (2nd)
Tom Kostopoulos, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (1st)
The winner of the 2017-18 Yanick Dupre Memorial Award will be announced at a later date.