At the end of the AHL season all teams in the league select their finalist for the AHL’s Yanick Dupre Memorial Award. The Milwaukee Admirals choice for their Man of the Year is first-year pro defenseman Jack Dougherty.

Press Release via Milwaukee Admirals:

Milwaukee, WI–The Milwaukee Admirals are proud to announce that Jack Dougherty has been named the team’s winner of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award for his outstanding contributions to the Milwaukee community during the 2016-17 season.

Dougherty was instrumental in the success of the Admirals reading program “Reading: The Ultimate Power Play,” as he went to six Milwaukee Public Schools that participated in the program to read to the kids in their classrooms and encourage them to achieve their reading goals. In addition, he made other school visits to talk with kids about the importance doing your best in school and how his education helps him as a professional athlete.

Jack, a native of Cottage Grove, MN served as a celebrity waiter for Prevent Blindness of Wisconsin’s annual fundraiser that raises money to help prevent blindness and other severe eye problems in kids. He was one of five players who auctioned off their services for a charity auction to go and cook dinner at the house of the winner, an item that netted $6,000.

Jack also went to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin to visit sick kids during the season and helped to distribute Shamrock Shakes to kids at the local Ronald McDonald House on St. Patrick’s Day. He also donated money to help buy presents for underprivileged kids at Christmas time.

Dougherty is now one of 30 finalists for the AHL’s 2016-17 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.

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.