Manitoba Moose nominee for AHL Man of the Year Award is Tyrel Bauer

Given how much work he does in the community it isn’t a surprise that the Moose nominee for AHL Man of the Year Award is Tyrel Bauer.

The Alberta product was drafted by the Jets back in 2020 and is now in his fourth season as a pro. While known for some of the massive tilts he engages in on the ice, he has become a more effective, shut-down defenceman for Manitoba this season. He’s played all 213 games of his pro career in antlers.

This played is selected by their respective teams for “their outstanding contributions to the local community and charitable organizations”.

In the home season finale on Sunday, Bauer cleaned up winning three team awards (two of which he won the year prior) including:

– EPRA Julian Klymkiw Community Service Award (second straight year)
– Fan Favourite Award
– Richard Bue Ultimate Teammate Award winner (2nd straight year)

Here is what the team wrote about their selection:

This is the second consecutive season Bauer, 24, has been named Manitoba’s winner of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year Award. The Cochrane, Alta. product was recognized with the team’s 2025-26 EPRA Julian Klymkiw Community Service Award, Richard Bue Ultimate Teammate Award and Goodlife Fan Favourite Award prior to Sunday’s 4-3 overtime win against the Texas Stars.

Bauer continued his work with the Kinship and Foster Family Network of Manitoba this season. The fourth-year pro welcomed foster families to 15 Manitoba Moose home games. The foster children and their caregivers received a Moose swag bag and tickets to the game. They also meet with Bauer after the game concludes for autographs and photos.

Bauer served as a coach with the Winnipeg Jets Hockey Academy for the third straight year. The defenceman skated with, and mentored, a U11 team this season. The WJHA is a play-based program designed to increase school attendance as well as high school graduation rates in socially and economically challenged schools in Winnipeg.

Bauer made 13 additional appearances in the community during the season, bringing his season total to 40 visits. Among those engagements, the blueliner made a series of appearances at Project 11 events to help educate youth on the importance of mental health, including the P11 Golf Tournament (July 24), and a pair of classroom visits (Oct. 15, Feb. 20).

Bauer also spoke at the True North Youth Foundation’s Gala (Nov. 19). He shared his thoughts about the importance of mental health initiatives, and shared first-hand accounts of how it has impacted the youth involved in P11 programming.

Bauer made an appearance at a St.Amant early learning classroom (Oct. 21). St.Amant supports over 5,000 people in Manitoba with developmental disabilities, autism and acquired brain injury. He also participated in several full-team volunteering efforts. Bauer helped pack Christmas hampers at the Christmas Cheer Board, which provides grocery hampers and gifts for children 14 years and under (Dec. 10) and engaged with community members during breakfast at Siloam Mission, a Christian-based, non-profit organization in Winnipeg dedicated to alleviating poverty and homelessness. (Dec. 16).

In February, Bauer partook in the team’s Stick to Reading initiative (Feb. 18), where the Moose read to 13 schools in and around Winnipeg and answered their questions to promote literacy. He also participated in the Moose Season Ticket Member Skate (Feb. 19) where he was among the most popular Moose chatting with fans.

Bauer’s contributions didn’t end there. On Jan. 28, he took to the frigid outdoors to play pickup hockey with the winners of the Moose Backyard Rink Contest, engaging and encouraging the kids the entire time. He signed autographs and chatted with fans during Autograph Alley (Oct. 12, Nov. 30), collecting some gifts, including paintings, photos, and even autographs from fans impacted by his work, both on and off the ice.

Tyrel Bauer is now one of 32 finalists for the AHL’s 2025-26 Yanick Dupré Memorial Award, honouring the overall IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year. The league award is named after the former Hershey Bears forward and AHL All-Star who died in 1997 following a 16-month battle with leukemia. The winner of the Yanick Dupré Memorial Award will be announced by the American Hockey League later this month.