Milwaukee, WI--The Milwaukee Admirals are proud to announce that right wing Ryan Maki has been named the team’s winner of the American Specialty/AHL Man of the Year award for his outstanding contributions to the Milwaukee community during the 2008-09 season.

A second-year player from Medford, NJ, Maki has made significant contributions to the team both on and off the ice. From youth hockey clinics to school visits Maki is constantly volunteering and always willing to do more

Before the 2008-09 season began, Maki served as a celebrity waiter for Prevent Blindness of Wisconsin’s annual fundraiser that raises money to help prevent blindness and other severe eye problems in kids. Maki was also instrumental in the success of the Admirals reading program “Reading: The Ultimate Power Play,” as he went to all five Milwaukee Public Schools that participated in the program to read to the kids in their classrooms. In addition, he made other schools visits to talk with kids about the importance of setting goals and how success in school helped him reach where he is today.

During Thanksgiving time Maki helped to deliver turkey dinners to local needy families in conjunction with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. In February he joined the rest of his teammates in a visit to the local Children’s Hospital to delivery gifts and sign autographs for sick kids, and was one of the top tip earners in the team Celebrity Waiters event that netted over $12,000 for the Admirals Power Play Foundation. The Harvard University grad also donated money to help buy presents for underprivileged kids at Christmas time and gave instruction in two youth hockey clinics during the year.

In recognition of his efforts, Maki will be presented with an etched crystal trophy during an on-ice presentation prior to an upcoming Admirals home game.

Maki is now one of 29 finalists for the AHL’s 2008-09 Yanick Dupre Memorial Award, honoring the overall 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 Dupre Memorial Award will be announced by the American Hockey League in the coming weeks.