USA Hockey Magazine

June/July 2020

Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1257458

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 51 of 57

52 // JUNE/JULY 2020 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM BOB JOHNSON AWARD (Presented by Nike) Stan Wong Stan Wong has been a cor- nerstone of USA Hockey's international program as an athletic trainer for near- ly 20 years, serving with a total of 47 teams over that span. Most recently, Wong served on the staff of the U.S. National Junior Team at the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship, marking his 18th straight appearance as the team's athletic trainer. A resident of Boca Raton, Fla., Wong has also served as an athletic trainer for the last four U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Teams; 13 IIHF Men's World Championships; and 10 Deutschland Cup squads. He was also the trainer for Team USA at the 2012 Youth Olympic Winter Games and the 2017 Winter World University Games. DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Dave Andrews Over the course of his 26 seasons as the president and chief executive officer of the American Hockey L e a g u e , D a v e A n d r e w s has overseen the expan- sion and development of the league from a region- a l 1 6 - t e a m f o r m a t t o a 31-team league in diverse m a r k e t s a c r o s s N o r t h America. He also developed corporate and broadcast partnerships to establish strong platforms for viewership of league games and events that have led to dramatic increases in revenues. In addition, Andrews brokered a partnership with the National Hockey League, establishing all 31 AHL teams as the primary development affiliate for each of the league's teams. Andrews also contributed to the implementation of innovative rules, such as hybrid icing, restructuring of overtime play and player safety initiatives, including head checking and checking from behind guidelines along with instituting a rule calling for mandatory visors for all skaters. DISABLED ATHLETE OF THE YEAR Raymond Kusch A sergeant in the U.S. Army, Raymond Kusch served two deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2012, he lost his left foot and suffered other injuries after stepping on an IED. After a long rehabilitation process, the Clio, Mich., native learned to walk and run again. When learning how to skate, Kusch was initially discouraged by how painful it was on his amputation, but that didn't stop him from eventually falling in love with the sport. Kusch started play ing hockey in 2017 and now is involved i n t h ree d i f ferent d isabled hockey d iscipl i nes, i nclud i ng st a nd i ng a mputee, wa r r ior a nd dea f/ ha rd of hea r i ng. He has also represented the U.S. in both standing amputee and dea f/ hard of hearing internationa l competitions. In addition to competing against able-bodied athletes with the University of Michigan–Flint's ACHA team, Kusch started his own adult league team and created Learn to Skate programs SO C I A L D I STA N C E S A LU T E 2 0 2 0 A N N U A L C O N G R E S S TO BE UNVEILED SATURDAY JUNE 13 TO BE UNVEILED WEDNESDAY JUNE 10

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of USA Hockey Magazine - June/July 2020