GOERTZEN EARNS SPECIAL AWARD

STEVEN GOERTZEN NAMED FALCONS 2010-11 IOA/AMERICAN SPECIALTY AHL MAN OF THE YEAR

Springfield, MA - The Springfield Falcons are proud to announce that Steven Goertzen has been named the team’s winner of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award for his outstanding contributions to the Springfield community during the 2010-11 season.

Goertzen has been very active in the community this year attending multiple player visits throughout the season.  He started the year assisting with Holy Name Youth Hockey attending on-ice practices with the kids helping youngsters with the fundamentals of hockey. 

Goertzen also assisted with the Springfield Sliders Sled Hockey Team throughout the year.  The Springfield Sliders Junior Team Sled Hockey is an outpatient rehab program started by Shriners Hospital for Children.  All players are patients at Shriners Hospital in Springfield.  He attended numerous practices while also having members of the Sliders Team attend a Falcons home game as his guest.

Goertzen also helped organize a special school vacation day at the Westfield Children’s Museum hosting around 20-30 kids to a special day of floor hockey, autographs and fun.  He took part in the special “Rays of Hope Walk” helping raise money for breast cancer awareness in October and he assisted when the Falcons donated holiday gifts to families at the local YMCA.

Goertzen is now one of 30 finalists for the AHL’s 2010-11 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 in the coming weeks.