Tyrel Bauer Presented 2026 Yanick Dupré Memorial Award as AHL Man of the Year
AHL Manitoba Moose

Tyrel Bauer Presented 2026 Yanick Dupré Memorial Award as AHL Man of the Year

Published on May 19, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manitoba Moose News Release


WINNIPEG - The Manitoba Moose Hockey Club, in conjunction with the American Hockey League, is proud to announce Tyrel Bauer is the winner of the 2026 Yanick Dupré Memorial Award as AHL Man of the Year.

This award has been presented annually since 1998 to an AHL player for his outstanding contributions to his local community and charitable organizations. The Yanick Dupré Memorial Award winner is selected by the AHL and representatives from IOA and American Specialty from among 32 individual team Man of the Year honourees.

Bauer, 24, is the third player in Moose franchise history to be recognized with the Yanick Dupré Memorial Award, following Jimmy Roy (2003) and Jimmy Oligny (2023). The Cochrane, Alta. product was recognized by the Moose in 2025 and 2026 with both the EPRA Julian Klymkiw Community Service Award and Richard Bue Ultimate Teammate Award, as well as this season's Goodlife Fitness Fan Favourite Award.

Members of the media are invited to participate in a media availability with Tyrel Bauer this afternoon at 3 p.m. CT on Zoom. Please contact Daniel Fink or Frankie Benvenuti for call details.

Bauer continued his work with the Kinship and Foster Family Network of Manitoba this season. The third-year pro welcomed foster families to 15 Manitoba Moose home games. The foster children and their caregivers received a Moose swag bag and tickets to the game. They also meet with Bauer after the game concludes for autographs and photos. Bauer remains especially close with a young fan named Noah, whom Bauer and the Moose gifted with a pair of custom-modified gloves that would allow Noah to play his favourite sport.

Bauer served as a coach with the Winnipeg Jets Hockey Academy for the third straight year. The defenceman skated with, and mentored, a U11 team this season. The WJHA is a play-based program designed to increase school attendance as well as high school graduation rates in socially and economically challenged schools in Winnipeg.

Bauer made 13 additional appearances in the community during the season, bringing his season total to 40 visits. Among those engagements, the blueliner made a series of appearances at Project 11 events to help educate youth on the importance of mental health, including the P11 Golf Tournament (July 24), and a pair of classroom visits (Oct. 15, Feb. 20).

Bauer also spoke at the True North Youth Foundation's Gala (Nov. 19). He shared his thoughts about the importance of mental health initiatives, and shared first-hand accounts of how it has impacted the youth involved in P11 programming.

Bauer made an appearance at a St.Amant early learning classroom (Oct. 21). St.Amant supports over 5,000 people in Manitoba with developmental disabilities, autism and acquired brain injury. He also participated in several full-team volunteering efforts. Bauer helped pack Christmas hampers at Christmas Cheer Board (Dec. 10), which provides families with groceries and gifts for children 14 years and under, and engaged with community members during breakfast at Siloam Mission (Dec. 16), a Christian-based, non-profit organization in Winnipeg dedicated to alleviating poverty and homelessness.

In February, Bauer partook in the team's Stick to Reading initiative (Feb. 18), where the Moose read to 13 schools in and around Winnipeg and answered their questions to promote literacy. He also participated in the Moose Season Ticket Member Skate (Feb. 19) where he was among the most popular Moose chatting with fans.

Bauer's contributions didn't end there. On Jan. 28, he took to the frigid outdoors to play pickup hockey with the winners of the Moose Backyard Rink Contest, engaging and encouraging the kids the entire time. He signed autographs and chatted with fans during Autograph Alley (Oct. 12, Nov. 30), collecting some gifts, including paintings, photos, and even autographs from fans impacted by his work, both on and off the ice.

Bauer was selected in the sixth round pick (164th overall) by the Winnipeg Jets in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. The defenceman joined the Moose for the 2022-23 season and has appeared in 214 career games over four seasons while recording 21 points (5G, 21A).

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 was an AHL All-Star in 1995.

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American Hockey League Stories from May 19, 2026


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