Tyrel Bauer repeats as Moose Man of the Year for community service

Tyrel Bauer kept turning up long before he turned in a highlight play, and the Manitoba Moose rewarded that work by naming the Cochrane, Alberta product their 2025-26 IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year. The recognition came as part of the club’s annual awards package before Manitoba’s 4-3 overtime win over the Texas Stars, and it marked Bauer’s second straight season as the Moose’s community-service standard-bearer.

Bauer’s season was built around the Kinship and Foster Family Network of Manitoba, where his involvement went far beyond a ceremonial visit or a one-off appearance. The Moose said he welcomed foster families to 15 home games, giving children and caregivers swag bags and tickets before meeting them after the games for autographs and photos. By the end of the season, Bauer had made more than 40 community appearances, a workload that helped define his value in a market that measures players by what happens away from the rink as much as what happens on it.

The Moose also pointed to Bauer’s broader role in the organization and in the city. He served as a coach with the Winnipeg Jets Hockey Academy for the third straight year, mentoring a U11 boys’ team, while also collecting the 2025-26 EPRA Julian Klymkiw Community Service Award, the Richard Bue Ultimate Teammate Award and the Goodlife Fan Favourite Award. Taken together, those honors framed Bauer as more than a depth piece or a draft pick. He was presented as a visible face of the club, someone whose reach extended into youth hockey, foster-family programming and the day-to-day relationship between the team and its fans.

That profile matters in the AHL, where club Man of the Year winners become finalists for the league’s Yanick Dupré Memorial Award. The leaguewide honor is named for former Hershey Bears forward Yanick Dupré, who died in 1997 at age 24 after a 16-month battle with leukemia. Dupré was an AHL All-Star in 1995, played four seasons in Hershey and appeared in 35 NHL games with the Philadelphia Flyers. Bauer, a Winnipeg Jets sixth-round pick in 2020, now sits in that broader award picture as Manitoba’s two-time club winner, reinforcing how strongly the Moose value his standing in the community alongside his development on the ice.