The NHL announced the three finalists for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy on Wednesday, awarded “to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.”
This years finalists are Vancouver’s Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Nashville’s P.K. Subban and Minnesota’s Jason Zucker.
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The Sedins recently announced their retirement, capping off 17 seasons with the Vancouver Canucks and leaving a lasting impact in the city both on and off the ice. Over the years, the twins have been heavily involved in the community, including a $1.5-million donation the twins and their spouses made to the B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation in 2010 to help build a new children’s hospital and expand on existing services. They also helped the Canucks for Kids Fund raise $42 million since 2000-01, advocated for literacy promotion programs, and supported the SPCA. They visited elementary schools, met with patients and families at the B.C. Children’s Hospital and Canucks Place Children’s Hospice, and through their work with the Sedin Family Foundation, touching the lives of thousands in the process.
Subban founded Blueline Buddies, a program designed to break down barriers between police and local youth. For each home game, Subban puts a member of the Metro Nashville Police Department together and a guest with an underprivileged youth and mentor from a local organization. Subban supplies tickets to the game and dinner, and then meets with the group both before and after the game. On top of that, Subban continues work in support of the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation, to which he has pledged $10 million; The Robbie Foundation; Toronto SickKids Hospital; and many more.
This season Zucker and his wife, Carly, started a campaign to raise funds for the Zucker Family Suite and Broadcast Studio at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital. The space allows children and their families to watch Wild games in a setting that stimulates the experience of being at a game. They started the project by donating $160,000 and continued by encouraging others in the community to donate. On top of that, Zucker pledged $1,600 for every goal he scored this season, and he reached a career-high 33 goals. Zucker is also involved in many other endeavours, including Avenues for Homeless Youth, Secondhand Hounds and Coco’s Heart animal rescues.
The King Clancy Memorial Trophy winner is selected by a committee of senior NHL executives led by Gary Bettman and Bill Daly. The winner will receive a $40,000 donation to benefit a charity or charities of their choice, and the two runners-up will each receive a $5,000 donation for charity.
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