This marks the sixth consecutive season that Hagel, who won last season’s Yanick Dupre Memorial Award as the AHL’s overall Man of the Year, has earned the nomination from his team.
In addition to again spending more hours at more of the Checkers’ scheduled school and community appearances than any of his teammates, Hagel implemented two successful reading programs at McClintock Middle School, a Title I school in Charlotte. Not only did he continue his “Stick to Reading” program that he created in his previous AHL markets in which students who read the most pages during a six-week period are rewarded with a ball hockey game against Checkers players, he also helped create a “Boys Book Club” program in which Checkers players met with a small group of students to introduce and later discuss a short novel. In total, Hagel has volunteered over 55 hours to community efforts in Charlotte.
Hagel is now one of 30 finalists for the AHL’s 2015-16 Yanick Dupre Memorial Award, honoring the overall IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year. The league award is named after the former Hershey Bears forward and AHL All-Star who died in 1997 following a 16-month battle with leukemia. The winner of the Yanick Dupre Memorial Award will be announced by the American Hockey League at a later date.
