SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (CP) - Hamilton Bulldogs forward Duncan Milroy won the Yanick Dupre Memorial Award on Thursday as the American Hockey League's man of the year for contributions to his community and local charities.
Selected in the second round of the 2001 draft by the Montreal Canadiens, Milroy scored 15 goals with 18 assists in 75 games for the Bulldogs.
But it was his off-ice contributions that got him noticed.
The 22-year-old Edmonton native became the official spokesman for Healthy Habits, a Bulldogs program that promotes healthy and active lifestyles among area youth. He helped launch the program and develop a video that introduces students to the program.
Milroy also took part in the Raise a Reader program, designed to create awareness and raise money for family literacy initiatives. By assisting in the sale of newspapers, he helped the campaign raise more than $30,000.
Among other acts, he donated $1,000 to support the Sanford School Nourishment Program, helped serve pancake breakfasts to inner-city youths and was the lead promoter of the Bulldogs' Smiles On Ice benefit, which raised more than $20,000 for the McMaster Children's Hospital.
The award is named after Yanick Dupre, who died at 24 in 1997 after a 16-month battle with leukemia. A second-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1991, he spent four seasons in the AHL with the Hershey Bears.
Previous winners of the award are: John Jakopin (1998); Brent Thompson (1999); Mike Minard (2000, 2001); Travis Roche (2002); Jimmy Roy (2003); and Kurtis Foster (2004).