6 Hershey Bears to Win The Les Cunningham Award as AHL MVP

In the American Hockey League, the Les Cunningham Award has been given each year to the league’s most valuable player since the 1947-48 season. The Hershey Bears, the league’s oldest franchise, have had six players win the Cunningham Award.

George ‘Red’ Sullivan won the Cunningham Award in 1953-54. Sullivan played 69 games for the Bears, scoring 30 goals and adding 89 assists for 119 points. He was also awarded the John B. Sollenberger Trophy as the AHL’s leading point getter. The 89 assists George contributed remain today as the Hershey Bears single season record.

Sullivan played with the Bears from 1949-50 to 1953-54, as a prospect of the National Hockey League’s Boston Bruins. George came to the Bruins system after playing junior with the OHA’s St. Catherines Teepees. He played sparingly in the NHL during that time but didn’t become a regular until the 1954-55 season, after being traded by the Bruins to the Chicago Black Hawks. In all, Red played 556 NHL regular season games between 1949-50 and 1960-61 with Boston, Chicago and the New York Rangers.

Mike Nykoluk became the next player from Hershey to win the Les Cunningham Award in 1966-67. In 72 games that season, Nukoluk scored 16 goals and assisted on 68 for a total of 84 points. Mike played with Hershey from 1958-59 to 1971-72. In all, he played 1,069 games in the AHL, totalling 881 points and was inducted to the AHL Hall of Fame in 2007. Mike appeared in 32 NHL games with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1956-57.

Another AHL Hall of Fame member was awarded the Cunningham in 1986-87. Tim Tookey scored 51 goals and added 73 assists for 124 points in 80 games for the Bears that season. The 124 points remains as a team record and was the highest total in the AHL, earning him the Sollenberger Trophy. Tookey was inducted into the AHL Hall of Fame in 2008.

Tim Tookey was a fifth round pick of the Washington Capitals in 1979 after playing junior with the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL. He played in 106 NHL games with Washington, the Quebec Nordiques, Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings. He played in 824 AHL games between 1980-81 and 1994-95, contributing 974 points.

In 1996-97, Jean-Francois Labbe became the only Hershey goalie to be named AHL MVP. Labbe played in 66 games, posting a 2.52 goals against average and .914 save percentage. Jean-Francois led the Bears to a Calder Cup victory that season, as he would do with the Hartford Wolf Pack three years later. Over his career, Labbe appeared in 15 NHL games with the New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets.

Alexander Giroux set the Hershey Bears single season record for most goals with 60 in 2008-09, while playing in just 69 games. His performance earned him the Cunningham Award. Giroux was a seventh round pick of the Ottawa Senators at the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. He has appeared in 48 NHL games at the time this article was written, with the New York Rangers, Washington Capitals, Edmonton Oilers and Columbus Blue Jackets. So far in 2011-12, Alexander has split his time between the AHL’s Springfield Falcons and Columbus of the NHL.

Keith Aucoin has been the alternate captain of the Hershey Bears for the past four seasons. In 2009-10, he scored 35 goals and added 71 assists for 106 points in 72 games and was awarded the Cunningham Award. To date, he has appeared in 660 AHL games, totalling 754 points. He has also played 75 games in the NHL with the Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals.