The NHL announced its 32 nominees for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy this weekend, with the Kings’ Kevin Fiala and Ducks’ Lukáš Dostál among them.
It is awarded to the “player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community.”
Fiala has been the Kings’ nominee in three consecutive seasons, while Dostál got the nod after his Czech countryman Radko Gudas represented the Ducks last year. The only winner from the two franchises was the Kings’ Dave Taylor, who became the fourth recipient of the award in 1991.
Fiala, a Swiss national of Czech lineage, has immersed himself in community service in Southern California and his native Switzerland, principally through “Fiala’s Friends.” Children’s hospitals in Los Angeles and St. Gallen, Switzerland have benefitted from Fiala’s work visiting patients and their families, as well as raising funds and donating tickets. This season, Fiala has been sidelined since breaking his leg in the Olympics, but was spotted skating alone in El Segundo in a post from Mayor’s Manor on Saturday.
Fiala runs an annual charity game in Zurich featuring a local pro club against a group of NHL’ers, a who’s who of Swiss stars in addition to other European standouts. Last year’s game also featured Tim Stützle of Germany and Lucas Raymond of Sweden.
Similarly, Dostál is active with Children’s Hospital of Orange County, in addition to a unique initiative that allows area students to submit their designs for a goalie mask, with the winning entry not only brought to fruition but worn by him in game action.
Dostál has carried a heavy workload in each of the past two seasons, setting career highs in games played and facing the seventh-most shots of any goalie across that pair of campaigns. Even that has benefitted others, with each save he makes generating $30 for Beyond Blindness and 10 Czech koruna for the underprivileged in Czechia.