Center Keith Aucoin of the Hershey Bears has been named as winner of the Les Cunningham Award as the American Hockey League’s most valuable player.
A former Albany River Rats captain, Aucoin has established career highs with 35 goals and 102 points in 70 games played so far this season, and is in position to capture his first scoring title after four previous top-10 finishes.
Aucoin also leads the league with 67 assists and 10 game-winning goals, and his plus-29 rating is tied for seventh among AHL forwards.
Selected to the AHL All-Star team for the fourth time, the 31-year-old Aucoin registered 30 multiple-point games this year, and with his 625th career point on Mar. 27, he became the highest-scoring American-born player in AHL history.
A native of Waltham, Mass., Aucoin has recorded 194 goals and 437 assists (18th all-time) for 631 points (31st all-time) in 575 career AHL games. He also has one goal and four assists in nine NHL games with Washington this season, giving him 26 points (8-18) in 74 career NHL contests.
Aucoin becomes the sixth Hershey player ever to win the Les Cunningham Award, joining George Sullivan (1954), Mike Nykoluk (1967), Tim Tookey (1987), Jean-Francois Labbe (1997) and Alexandre Giroux (2009).
In two seasons with the River Rats, Aucoin totaled 144 points (35-109) in 103 games over two seasons — including setting all-time season records in points (99) and assists (72) in the 2006-07 campaign.
The MVP award is voted on by coaches, players and members of the media in each of the league’s 29 cities.