Andrew Mangiapan was nominated for the NHL Humanitarian Award

Calgary Flames forward Andrew Mangiapane has been nominated for the 2024 King Clancy Award by the team.

The annual award is presented to an NHL player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community.

In his seven seasons at the club, Mangiapane has always been involved in community events and decided to start his own community initiative in 2023.

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 the Calgary Italian Open, Mangiapan was able to fully fund the program so underprivileged kids had access to new equipment and healthy snacks.

Mangiapane teamed up with the Italian Central Store to create a unique #88 loaf of bread that was sold for a limited time. For every loaf of bread sold, the Italian Center store donated a meal kit to Youth Centers of Calgary, which became 850 meals for children who don't often have access to healthy food at home.

With the help of the Flames Foundation, Mangiapana purchased new hockey equipment for each child in the program.

“Hockey has given me and my family so much and I think this is a great opportunity for me to give back to the city of Calgary,” Mangiapana said in a media release.

“Growing up I was always told I was too small and I could never make it,” she added. “I've always been the underdog, and these kids are underdogs, so I want to give them a good chance. learn to play hockey. They never had equipment or played in a team, and I wanted to help them and be an example in a game that has given me so much.”

If he wins the King Clancy Award, Mangiapane will become the fifth member of the Flames. Past winners include Lanny McDonald (1988), Joe Nieuwendyk (1995), Jarome Iginla (2004) and last year's Mikael Backlund.

Mikael Backlund was named a finalist for the NHL's King Clancy Award on Wednesday afternoon.

“Congratulations to Andrew on being nominated for this award,” Backlund said. “Andrew's commitment to our community is truly inspiring and he is making a real difference in the lives of young people in Calgary.”

The three finalists for the award will be announced by the NHL at a later date.