SCHILLING NAMED BEARS' IOA/AMERICAN SPECIALTY AHL MAN OF THE YEAR

April 2, 2014

HERSHEY, Pa. – The Hershey Bears announced today that defenseman Cameron Schilling has been named the team’s winner of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award for his outstanding contributions to the Central Pennsylvania community during the 2013-14 season. The announcement was made by Bears President/GM Doug Yingst.

In claiming this this yearly honor, Schilling was a vital part of connecting his team to the community via charities, school and hospital visits and youth hockey clinics.

Schilling started the season by volunteering to "guest coach" a large number of players in the Hershey Junior Bears youth hockey programs, at the very beginning of the Bears’ regular season. At a time when teammates were attempting to get to know each other, all the while working at improving themselves and learning the team system, Schilling went out on his own time on several Monday evenings to share that same knowledge with the youth of Central Pennsylvania. His willingness to lead, his lack of ever responding with a "no", and his ease of connecting with the children made him the most popular player in the Junior Bears program.

Schilling also volunteered in helping to serve dinner to the community at the first-ever "Defend the Kids" event held at the Coliseum Megaplex in Mechanicsburg on March 4. Prior to joining fans young at old on the bowling lanes, at the air hockey table or in front of video games, Schilling served dinner to collect tips – all of which went to Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Capital Region and to Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital, in the name of area youth.

Finally – and in one of the most popular community events of the hockey season – Schilling volunteered his time on each of six monthly visits made by the players to the Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital, done to brighten the days of local ill or injured youth.

finalists for the AHL’s 2013-14 Yanick Dupre Memorial Award, honoring the overall IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year. The league award is named after the former Hershey Bears forward and AHL All-Star who died in 1997 following a 16-month battle with leukemia. The winner of the Yanick Dupre Memorial Award will be announced by the American Hockey League later this month.