Wichita's Flath Selected as CHL Man of the Year Finalist
March 19, 2014 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Wichita Thunder News Release
Wichita, KS (March 19th) - The Central Hockey League announced this afternoon the five finalists for the 2014 CHL Man of the Year Award and Wichita's RG Flath was among those selected for this prestigious honor. He joins Andrew Martens in earning a post-season nomination. Former Thunder defenseman and current Assistant Coach Travis Wight was selected as last year's recipient as the CHL Man of the Year.
The CHL Man of the Year award is 'presented annually to the Central Hockey League player adjudged to have best exemplified strong leadership qualities on and off the ice, while making significant and noteworthy humanitarian contributions to his community'.
Flath has always been involved locally in the community since he arrived in Wichita and was honored last season as a co-recipient of the team's Community Service Award. In his third year in the Air Capital, Flath became very involved with the team's Teddy Bear Toss promotion. The players go to local area hospitals and drop off teddy bears to children around the holidays. He was more than willing to put a smile on a child's face. He was also involved in an appearance at a local school where the teachers had questions prepared prior to his arrival. The children loved him and the teachers were very thankful for his enthusiasm. He was able to answer each question in such detail to really help paint the picture of the ins-and-outs of a hockey player. His involvement in the Thunder's Make-A-Wish Promotion was also important. He would always make sure to go over to the Thunder bench during warm-ups and say hello to the Make-A-Wish child that was watching warm-ups prior to the opening face-off.
" R.G. is great with the fans and even better with kids. I am honored to have been able to work with him during community appearances," commented Chrissy Benson, Director of Community Relations. "He's such a great guy who deserves such an honorable award and I hope he is strongly considered. What he did for Colin Peters was amazing. He isn't the type of person that would want to brag about what he did, but his contribution to WSI took everyone back and they were very thankful."
Flath also became very close with some of the members of Wheelchair Sports Inc. and helped to donate his own jersey to his number one fan after the event. This year's wheelchair game raised over $8,500 which will help benefit all aspects of their organization. Wheelchair Sports, Inc. is a non-profit (501c-3) corporation dedicated to the promotion of adaptive sports and recreation in south-central Kansas. This year's version was the 14th edition and raised the most money to this date. The goals of WSI are to provide, promote, encourage and engage in sports, physical fitness, and recreational activities designed for individuals with physical disabilities. To learn more about Wheelchair Sports, Inc., visit their website at http://wsi.wcsports.org/.
The other players selected for the award are listed below:
Man of the Year Finalists:
Sebastian Geoffrion, Arizona
Calin Wild, Brampton
Sean Zimmerman, Denver
Ben Gordon, Tulsa
RG Flath, Wichita
CHL Man of the Year (previous winners, since 2001)
2013 - Travis Wight (Wichita)
2012 - Riley Weselowski (Rapid City)
2011 - Simon Watson (Missouri)
2010 - Justin Quenneville (Corpus Christi)
2009 - Austin Sutter (Amarillo)
2008 - Stacey Bauman (Oklahoma City)
2007 - Riley Nelson (Colorado)
2006 - Paul Fioroni (Lubbock)
2005 - Paul Fioroni (Lubbock)
2004 - Don Parsons (Memphis)
2003 - Anthony Donskov (Lubbock)
2002 - Scott Hillman (Odessa)
Wichita continues its road trip tonight against the Allen Americans at 7:05 p.m. The Thunder returns to INTRUST Bank Arena on March 22nd to host Tulsa for the final regular season meeting between the two teams at 7:05 p.m., which is also Youth Jersey Night. The Alumni will be hosting a Watch Party for Friday night's game while the team is playing at Tulsa. Head over to Pucks Sports Bar located at the Wichita Ice Center starting at 7:30 p.m.
2014-15 season tickets are on sale now! Don't delay, contact the Wichita Thunder Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at (316) 264-4625. Stay up-to-date on all the news this season by visiting www.wichitathunder.com .
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Central Hockey League Stories from March 19, 2014
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