WHL Announces WHL Alumni Achievement Award recipients
Published on April 25, 2008 under Western Hockey League (WHL) News Release
CALGARY, AB. - The Western Hockey League announced today the first ever recipients of the WHL Alumni Association Achievement Awards.
The WHL Alumni Achievement Award recognizes Alumni who pursued professional hockey and achieved a distinguished career in the NHL. The award also recognizes WHL graduates who have obtained a post secondary education through the WHL Scholarship Program resulting in a highly successful business or professional career. The recipients were selected by the WHL Alumni Association Executive Committee.
The recipients of the 2008 WHL Alumni Achievement Award are two former Medicine Hat Tigers, Lanny McDonald in the Professional Hockey Alumni category and Dr. Blair St. Martin in the Academic Scholarship Alumni category.
Professional Hockey Recipient - Lanny McDonald
Lanny McDonald, originally from Hanna, Alberta, appeared in six games during the 1970-71 Western Hockey League season with the Calgary Centennials before joining the Medicine Hat Tigers from 1971-73. In just two seasons with the Tigers, McDonald accumulated 112 goals and 253 points in 136 games and was named to the WHL First All Star team in 1973.
Following his successful tenure with the Medicine Hat Tigers, McDonald was selected fourth overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1973 NHL Entry Draft. His NHL career spanned 16 seasons from 1973 until 1989 during which time he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Rockies, and Calgary Flames. McDonald capped off his illustrious NHL career capturing the Stanley Cup with the Calgary Flames in 1989.
McDonald, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992, played 1,111 games and 16 seasons in the NHL amassing 1,006 points on 500 goals and 506 assists. He played in four NHL All Star games, won the Bill Masterton Trophy (1982-83), the King Clancy Memorial Trophy (1987-88) and was named the NHL Man-of-the-Year in 1988-89.
Academic Recipient - Dr. Blair St. Martin
Dr. Blair St. Martin, originally from Slave Lake, Alberta, played his entire WHL career with the Medicine Hat Tigers from 1994-98. During that span, he appeared in 262 games, recording eight goals, 74 points and 804 penalty minutes. While playing with the Tigers, St. Martin attended Medicine Hat College in preparation for enrolment at the University of Alberta upon graduating from the League.
Subsequently, St. Martin then went on to a five year hockey career with the University of Alberta Golden Bears from 1998-2004, winning national titles in 1999 and 2000. He played in 158 Canadian University games compiling 24 goals and 77 points. In 2001, after just three years at the University of Alberta, St. Martin graduated with a Bachelor Medical Sciences degree.
In 2001 St. Martin was accepted into the University of Alberta's Faculty of Medicine in 2005 graduated on the Dean's List achieving honors standing while obtaining his Medical Degree. He is currently in his third year of residency in Urology at the University of Alberta hospital in Edmonton. He will graduate from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Urology in June 2010.
The WHL Alumni Association was formed in November 2007 to take an active role in assisting with the operation and promotion of the WHL at both the Club and League level. The WHL Alumni Association hopes to provide a medium through which past players, coaches, officials and management personnel can reconnect with former teammates and continue to make a contribution to the growth and development of the WHL.
The WHL Alumni Achievement Awards will be presented at the 2008 WHL Awards Luncheon to be held in Calgary, Alberta on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008.
"We are very pleased to honour two of our most outstanding graduates with the first ever WHL Alumni Achievement Awards," commented WHL Commissioner Ron Robison. "Lanny and Blair are great examples of WHL graduates who have gone on to achieve remarkable success in their professional hockey and academic careers respectively."
"Lanny McDonald and Dr. Blair St. Martin typify what WHL graduates are all about," stated WHL Alumni Association President Kelly Hrudey. "They have both excelled in their career path, whether it is professional hockey at the NHL level or pursuing their studies through the WHL Scholarship program."
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- WHL Announces WHL Alumni Achievement Award recipients - WHL
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