Springfield, Massachusetts. …The American Hockey League today announced the Texas Star Forward Curtis Mackenzie Has been selected as the winner Yanick Dupré Memorial Award In the 2024-25 season.
The award has been awarded to AHL players every year since 1998 for his outstanding contributions to local communities and charities. Yanick Dupré Memorial Award winners are selected by AHL and representatives IOA and American Professional Winners from 32 Best Person of the Year.
McKenzie is a three-time star-winning IOA/American Professional AHL Best of the Year honoree, and is known in Cedar Park and the Greater Austin Communities for his commitment to connecting with fans and giving back in meaningful ways.
With his wife Luciaa member of the board of directors of McKenzie on the Texas Stars Foundation, the organization’s charity supports local communities through financial donations, kindness and volunteerism. McKenzie has played an active role in the foundation’s efforts, including pioneering support for book drivers, which provides new books to 400 students at Bluebonnet Elementary School in Round Rock. He is outstanding among star players’ visits to local schools, hospitals and youth organizations, sharing his love for hockey while inspiring the next generation.
Mackenzie also created the Captain’s Children’s Program, which provides children facing adversity with the opportunity to enjoy celebrity games with their families and engage exclusively with players – including pre-match fan tunnel experiences and post-match match meets. He was a former advocate for Ronald McDonald House, who once helped Curtis and his family when needed, helped buy ingredients and provide warm meals for families in need.
McKenzie is a native of Golden, British Columbia, with his 12th professional season and his eighth season in Texas. He won the Calder Cup title and AHL Rookie of the Year Award in 2014, and this year he was selected by the league as captain of the Western Conference at the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic – and he also participated in a volunteer community event at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in the Palm Desert, California.
The AHL’s Best Man of the Year Award for the Year is named after the late Yanick Dupré, who fought leukemia for 16 months in 1997 and died in 1997 at the age of 24. Dupré was a second-round pick for the Philadelphia Flyer in 1991, playing in the AHL with the Hershey Bears for four seasons and becoming an AHL All-Star in 1995.
Since 1936, the American Hockey League has continued to be the top development league for all 32 national hockey league teams. Nearly 90% of players in NHL games are AHL graduates, and the American Hockey League has been more than 100 members of the Hockey Hall of Fame for years.
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