The Tom Kurvers Humanitarian Award was created to honor the Minnesota Wild player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice while making a significant humanitarian contribution to his community. The Wild will present the award annually in memory of the late Tom Kurvers, the Wild assistant general manager and Minnesota hockey legend who passed away in June of 2021 following a courageous battle with lung cancer. A native of Bloomington, Kurvers played high school hockey at Jefferson High School before starring at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where he won the 1985 Hobey Baker Award as college hockey's best player. He later appeared in 659 games over 10 seasons with seven NHL franchises before holding numerous front office roles throughout two decades. A loving father of four and a friend to countless more, Kurvers is remembered for his friendly demeanor, upbeat attitude, willingness to share an old story and his zest for life.
Dumba, 28, has long worked to make hockey a more inclusive sport, with the ultimate goal of eradicating racism from the game completely. The recipient of the NHL's 2019-20 King Clancy Memorial Trophy, Dumba has contributed his time, money and efforts to a number of community initiatives throughout his career and helped form the Hockey Diversity Alliance in June of 2020. On February 10, 2023, he hosted the third annual Matt Dumba Hockey Without Limits camp at Guidant John Rose MN OVAL in Roseville, Minnesota. Over 300 youth hockey players from The Herb Brooks Foundation, New Directions Youth Ministry, Hockey is for Me, Mosaic Hockey Collective, DinoMights, Athletes Committed to Educating Students (ACES), Minnesota Special Hockey, Sled Hockey, Blind Hockey, Deaf/Hard of Hearing Hockey, Interfaith Action and American Indian Youth Enrichment attended the event.
Dumba was chosen for the Tom Kurvers Humanitarian Award by a vote among his teammates and has served as an alternate captain for Minnesota since the beginning of the 2021-22 season. The Minnesota Wild Foundation will make a $5,000 donation to the DinoMights on behalf of Dumba for being the inaugural recipient of the Tom Kurvers Humanitarian Award.
The 6-foot-0, 184-pound native of Regina, Saskatchewan, has recorded 14 points (4-10=14), 95 shots, 79 penalty minutes (PIM), 111 blocked shots and 101 hits in 77 games played this season. For his career, he has played in 596 NHL games, all with Minnesota, and recorded 236 points (79-157=236), 397 PIM, 21 power-play goals, 694 blocked shots and 813 hits. He ranks first in franchise history in hits by a defenseman and is tied for first in franchise history with six overtime goals.
