It was announced on Monday that Oscar Dansk was named the Chicago Wolves IOA/American Speciality AHL Man of the Year award recipient for 2019–20. This is the first time the 26-year-old Swede has won the award, named in honor of former Wolves player Dan Snyder. The Dan Snyder Award is awarded annually to the Wolves player that most exemplifies the late Snyder, who set the standard for community service within the organization.
From the Wolves’ organization:
Oscar has done his utmost to emulate Snyder throughout the 2019-20 season, his third with the organization. In addition to maintaining his tradition of being a positive presence at all Wolves fundraisers and community events, he organized half the team for an outing to Ronald McDonald House in downtown Chicago. Ronald McDonald House provides a place for families to call home so they can stay close to their hospitalized loved ones at no cost. Oscar and the rest of the Wolves not only prepared dinner for all of these families one night, they spent the afternoon engaged with the children – playing basketball, signing autographs, working on their TikTok dance moves and more.
On top of that, Dansk formed a special bond with a 17-year-old boy named Angelo. Angelo is a frequent visitor at Lurie’s Children’s Hospital as he fights bone cancer.
Over the course of a month, Oscar hosted the Daichendt family for two Wolves games — Angelo’s first professional sporting events — and visited their home twice. On his first visit, they spent hours talking and playing video games and enjoyed a meal together.
“Oscar was just the nicest guy,” Denise (Daichendt) said. “I’ve been with Make-A-Wish for 17 or 18 years and I’ve seen a lot of wishes, but he really took such a sincere interest in Angelo and all of us. It was like he was part of the family. He just fit right in. I looked at my husband and said, ‘I think we found our eighth child!’ I couldn’t believe he came to our house. He went above and above and beyond. We had had such a rough few weeks and it was a great break. He really, really brought a lot of joy for us. We just love him to death.”
Dansk is in his third season with the organization. Over three years with the team, Dansk has accumulated 58 wins, a 2.49 goals against average and a .913 save percentage. This season, before the stoppage, Dansk had 18 wins, a 2.57 goals against average and a .908 save percentage.