Achi news desk-
The Calgary Flames announced that forward Andrew Mangiapane has been nominated by the team for the 2024 King Clancy Award.
The annual award goes to an NHL player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made notable philanthropic contributions to his community.
During his seven seasons with the club, Mangiapane has always been involved in community events and in 2023, he decided to launch his own community initiative.
He called it Mange’s Breadsticks, a youth community hockey program based out of the Calgary Youth Centers in Ogden. With sponsorship support from the Flames Foundation and Calgary Italian Open, Mangiapane was able to fully fund the program, so that underprivileged children could have access to new equipment, and healthy meals.
Mangiapane worked with the Italian Center Shop to create a unique #88 loaf of bread, which was sold for a limited time. For every loaf sold, the Italian Center Shop provided a food package to Calgary Youth Centres, which turned into 850 meals given to children who often don’t have access to healthy meals at home.
With the help of the Flames Foundation, Mangiapane bought new hockey equipment for every child in the program.
“Hockey has given me and my family so much and I think it’s a great opportunity for me to give back to the City of Calgary,” Mangiapane said in a media release.
“Growing up, I was always told I was too small, and I was never going to make it,” she added. learn to play hockey. They’ve never had equipment or played on a team, and I wanted to help and be a role model for them in the game that has given me so much.”
If he wins the King Clancy Award, Mangiapane will be the fifth member of the Flames to do so. Past winners include Lanny McDonald (1988), Joe Nieuwendyk (1995), Jarome Iginla (2004) and Mikael Backlund, who won last year.
Mikael Backlund was named a finalist for the King Clancy Award by the NHL on Wednesday afternoon
“Congratulations to Andrew on being named a nominee for this award,” said Backlund. “Andrew’s dedication to our community is truly inspiring and he is making a real difference in the lives of young people here in Calgary.”
The three finalists for the award will be announced at a later date by the NHL.
