
Logan Stankoven with the Dayna Brons Honorary Award. (Photo via Matt Sallis)
It was a surprise award for Logan Stankoven.
Over 100 family members, friends, and supporters gathered at the Sandman Signature Hotel last night, as Stankoven was named the winner of Hockey Gives Blood’s national accolade – the Dayna Brons Honourary Award – for his work over the last four years.
“It was quite the surprise when I walked in, it was a special night,” Stankoven, who had just returned from a vacation in Italy, said.
The Kamloops native has been a Hockey Gives Blood player ambassador since he was 17. He was named the recipient of the Doug Wickenheiser Memorial Trophy as WHL Humanitarian of the Year for the 2022-23 season.
He is a blood donor, he joined Canadian Blood Services stem cell registry, he’s hosted community blood drives, and he also helped raised $41,000 as part of Logan Stankoven Charity Night – the largest fundraising initiative since the inception of Hockey Gives Blood.
Stankoven says his dad, Wes, was able to coordinate the surprise by telling a little white lie.
“It’s my parent’s 25th anniversary, so I was told we were going out for dinner,” he said. “I knew something might have been up when they asked if I would dress up a little, put on a tie.”
Hockey Gives Blood President Stu Middleton was happy with how the night went.
“I think we caught him by surprise and that’s what we wanted,” Middleton said. “He certainly very deserving of this award. To see him come into a room with a room full of people ready to congratulate him was pretty special.”
Stankoven is the fifth player ambassador to win the award after Jacob Ingham (Kitchener Rangers), Matthew Welsh (Charlottetown Islanders), Braden Hache (Kingston Frontenacs), and Logan Nijhoff (Regina Pats). It is named after Dayna Brons, the 24-year-old former athletic therapist who was one of the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in April 2018.
Stankoven will be headed down to Dallas next week for the Stars Development Camp. He’s hoping to crack the NHL team’s roster in the fall.