Ajay Baines brought the Calder Cup home to Kamloops in the summer of 2007. Here he is at his folks' home, along with his No. 1 fan, Jenna Fowler.
Ajay Baines, one of hockey's really good guys, has been honoured by the American Hockey League. Here is the press release off the Iowa Chops' website:
The American Hockey League announced today that center Ajay Baines of the Iowa Chops has been named the 2008-09 winner of the Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award as the AHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of sportsmanship, determination and dedication to hockey. The award is voted on by coaches, players and members of the media in each of the league's 29 cities. "It is a great feeling to be recognized by your peers for an award like this," said Baines. "It is a huge honor to have been chosen from such a quality list of nominees... I am humbled to have been selected."
The captain of the first-year Chops, Baines has long been a well respected member of the American Hockey League. Since being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a teenager, Baines, who wears an insulin pump at all times on the ice, has carved out a successful career that included a Calder Cup championship with Hamilton in 2007. This season with Iowa, the 5-foot-10, 182-pound Baines has topped the 70-game mark for the seventh time in the AHL, totaling seven goals and 23 assists for 30 points in 77 contests while accumulating a career-low 53 penalty minutes.
A 31-year-old native of Kamloops, B.C., Baines was undrafted out of junior hockey but has gone on to play 645 games in the American Hockey League over the past nine seasons. Before wearing the "C" in Iowa he served as team captain in both Norfolk and Hamilton, and scored the Cup-clinching goal for the Bulldogs in the 2007 finals.
This award, which was first presented by the AHL in 1978, honors the late Fred T. Hunt, a long-time contributor to the league who won three Calder Cup championships as a player and three more as a general manager. Previous winners of the award include Ross Yates (1983), Glenn Merkosky (1987, '91), Bruce Boudreau (1988), Murray Eaves ('89, '90), John Anderson (1992), Tim Tookey (1993), Ken Gernander (1996, 2004), Randy Cunneyworth (2000), Mark Cullen (2006), Mike Keane (2007) and Jordan Sigalet (2008).
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