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Former ECHL Player Fritz Named AHL Man Of The Year

April 12, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The American Hockey League has announced that Springfield Falcons left wing Mitch Fritz has been selected to receive the Yanick Dupré Memorial Award as the AHL Man of the Year. The award is presented annually to an AHL player for his outstanding contributions to his local community and charitable organizations.

Fritz began his professional career in 2000-01 in the ECHL with Tallahassee where he had eight points (3g-5a) and 79 penalty minutes in 42 games. He played for Columbus from 2001-04 and had 28 points (8g-20a) and 577 penalty minutes in 142 games for the Cottonmouths.

The 25-year-old has become a spokesman and ambassador for Springfield through his tireless community service while interacting with fans of all ages to raise money and awareness for charitable causes. The 6-foot-8 and 258-pound Fritz has embraced his status as a fan favorite by signing autographs and participating in outreach programs such as "Adopt A Falcon" for which he visits a local elementary school twice a month to teach lessons in math, geography and physical education. He also hosted a party to raise funds for Brightside for Families and Children, a non-profit support center that offers residential treatment and special education for children and their families.

He represented the organization at the Children's Miracle Network Radiothon that raised a record $175,000 for the Baystate Children's Hospital and he recruited teammates to help him deliver toys to patients. He also assisted in fundraising for the American Red Cross by serving as spokesman for the team's teddy bear toss and blood drives. The team's annual golf tournament raised more than $30,000 for the Springfield Shriners Hospital and the Springfield Sliders sled hockey team. He has also mentored foster children through the social service department in Holyoke, Mass. as well as participating in a fashion show for breast cancer awareness and delivering food donations to Palmer Food Share to benefit more than 1,200 families in western Massachusetts.

The AHL's annual Man of the Year award is named after the late Yanick Dupré, who passed away in 1997 at the age of 24 following a 16-month battle with leukemia. A second-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1991, Dupré played four seasons in the AHL with the Hershey Bears, and participated in the 1995 AHL All-Star Game.

Fritz will be presented with the Yanick Dupré Award and a check for $500 on Saturday in an on-ice presentation prior to the Falcons game against Portland.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goaltender Dany Sabourin, who has played in the ECHL with Johnstown, Las Vegas and Wheeling, was named First Team All-AHL while former Greensboro and current Manitoba goaltender Wade Flaherty, former Charlotte and current Hartford defenseman Thomas Pock, and former Florida and current Lowell center Keith Aucoin were all selected Second Team All-AHL.

Former Greenville and current Norfolk center Martin St. Pierre and former Charlotte and current Hartford defenseman Daniel Girardi were both selected to the AHL All-Rookie Team.

Former ECHL players have won the CCM Vector/AHL Player of the Week award nine times in 2005-06 with Aucoin (Florida and Lowell), Mike Ayers (Dayton and Syracuse), Zdenek Blatny (Greenville and Springfield), Brian Finley (Toledo and Milwaukee), Jamie Holden (Fresno and Cleveland), Jani Hurme (Columbia and Portland), Brent Krahn (Las Vegas and Omaha), Lawrence Nycholat (Jackson and Hershey) and Nathan Robinson (Toledo and Providence).

There are eight head coaches, 12 assistant coaches and countless other personnel on the 27 teams in the AHL, including Mike Haviland, who won the Kelly Cup with Atlantic City in 2002-03 and Trenton in 2004-05 and moved up to the AHL as head coach of Norfolk. Other former ECHL coaches who are now head coaches in the AHL are Claude Noel of Milwaukee, Roy Sommer of Cleveland, Greg Ireland of Grand Rapids, Dave Allison of Iowa, Scott Gordon of Providence, Bruce Boudreau of Hershey and David Baseggio of Bridgeport.

For the each of the past three seasons, the ECHL has had more players called up to the AHL than all other professional leagues combined, including 2004-05 when over 200 players were involved in 355 call ups, accounting for almost 80 percent of the AHL roster additions. The ECHL had 425 call ups involving 234 players in 2003-04 and 450 call ups in 2002-03.

The AHL Most Valuable Player Award has been won four times by former ECHL players, most recently by former Charlotte goaltender Jason LaBarbera in 2003-04. Other former ECHL players who were named as MVP of the AHL are Eric Boguniecki in 2001-02, Martin Brochu in 1999-2000 and Brad Smyth in 1995-96.

The AHL Coach of the Year award was won by ECHL coaches four years in a row from 2001-04 with Noel (2004), Geoff Ward (2003), Bruce Cassidy (2002) and Don Granato (2001) while current Carolina Hurricanes and former Wheeling coach Peter Laviolette was the first ECHL coach to capture the award in 1999.

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