The Checkers announced today that Sean Dolan has been named the team’s winner of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award for his outstanding contributions to the Charlotte community during the 2012-13 season.

Dolan, a second-year forward, led the Checkers in community appearances this season, volunteering his time with several different events, schools and causes. He took part in each of the Checkers’ educational programs, including visits to local schools as part of PowerPLAY, the Science of Hockey and Reading First. He also made visits to the local children’s hospital to deliver teddy bears as part of the annual teddy bear toss and to visit a local youth hockey player, who was admitted.

Sean Dolan community
Despite a late-season injury, Dolan continued to volunteer his time and was present at each and every community event leading up to the final weeks of the regular season. He was active in the community during each month of the season – a difficult task given the structure of the team’s schedule.

Dolan is now one of 30 finalists for the AHL’s 2012-13 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 on Apr. 18.

Honorable Mentions

Checkers defensemen Justin Krueger and Rasmus Rissanen and forward A.J. Jenks were also very active in the Charlotte community in 2012-13. Krueger and Rissanen often tag-teamed community appearances, which included reading to students, youth hockey clinics and the PowerPLAY program for healthy and active living among elementary students. Jenks, meanwhile, used his down time while recovering from an injury to volunteer  with the Checkers’ various charitable programs. The third-year pro also bought four season tickets at the beginning of the season for the USO of North Carolina.

Season Ticket Donations

Though every Checker takes part in community service activities throughout the season, a group of players got together at the beginning of the season to purchase four season tickets each for various non-profit organizations. The players included Zac Dalpe (Camp Care), Jenks (USO of NC), Riley Nash (Presbyterian Hemby Children’s Hospital), Justin Peters (Boys & Girls Club of Charlotte), Bobby Sanguinetti (Ronald McDonald House of Charlotte), Brett Sutter (Special Olympics of NC) and Chris Terry (ALS Association Jim “Catfish” Hunter Chapter).
For more information on the Checkers’ community programs and events, click the “Community” tab on the menu bar at the top of the page.