The NHL announced each franchise’s King Clancy Memorial Trophy nominee, with the Kings’ Kevin Fiala and Ducks’ Radko Gudas among the players who best exemplified leadership and community service.
Fiala was nominated for a second straight season thanks to a variety of philanthropic efforts with which he is involved, including “Fiala’s Friends.” The program works closely with Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles to host patients and their families at games, as well as arrange visits to the hospital and fundraising efforts on its behalf. Fiala also works with the Adopt-a-Family and Make-a-Wish foundations.
Fiala has organized a hockey camp to help raise awareness and support for CHLA, part of his ongoing commitment to brightening the lives and improving the health of young people.
“Just to give them [a chance] to forget about it a little bit, what they have, and just give them joy for a day,” Fiala told Kings Insider Zach Dooley. “All of the families have been very grateful, they love it, and I’m going to continue to do it.”
He and wife Jessica became parents themselves for the first time last spring, just before Fiala went to the World Championships and won a silver medal with Switzerland.
Gudas opposed him in the final and after draping a gold medal around his neck last spring, the hard-nosed defenseman and Ducks captain might add another piece of hardware – as well as a $25,000 donation to the charity of his choice – for a very different reason.
He and his wife Barb have shown a deep commitment to youth education in terms of academics, athletics and the arts, most notably with their involvement with Zákadni Škola Baltimore in Beroun, Czechia, about a half hour south of Kladno. When the school needed to expand its facilities, the Gudas family was at the forefront of those efforts, intensifying their involvement.
The bilingual institute educates students in Czech and English, emphasizes arts education (his sister Karolina is a singer that became one of Czechia’s youngest Thalia Award winners in 2016) and hosts a variety of athletic programs, including Gudas’ hockey camp.
“We have a hockey program that helps young players develop throughout the school so they’re able to go anywhere in Europe or anywhere in the world after they finish the school – to be able to speak more languages and be able to play sports,” Gudas told Daily Faceoff. “It’s not just hockey, it’s also for skiing, athletics [in general].”
Kings icon Dave Taylor is the only player from either of the Southern California franchises to have previously won the award, in 1991. Last year’s winner was New York Islanders captain Anders Lee, who has made significant contributions in advancing cancer research.