Street is Binghamton’s AHL Man of the Year Nominee

The Binghamton Devils have named their IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year. He is their captain, Ben Street. He received the award due to “his outstanding contributions to the Binghamton community during the 2019-20 season.”

According to the Binghamton website, “Street has committed over 20 hours of community service, attending events such as talking with local youth hockey players and meeting with fans. He spearheaded a shopping tripe with his team, who purchased over $400 of food to donate to an annual food drive (Fill the Food-A-Bago).”

He also, along with his wife, “brought the team together to donate Christmas presents to over 20 children in need for the local Family Enrichment network during the holidays, as well as attending the Toys-for-Tots Spaghetti Dinner where he served spaghetti in return for donated toys.”

Street now becomes the Binghamton Devils’ finalist “for the AHL’s 2019-20 Yanick Dupre Memorial Award, honoring the overall IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year.” The final award will be named by the AHL “at a later date.”

In some sadder news, I also wanted to pay respects to two people involved with the Devils from the beginning who recently passed away due to COVID-19.

The first is Judge John A. Conte, who died back in early April. Judge Conte was a Bergen County Superior Court Judge who was a fan and season ticket holder for the Devils since they arrived in East Rutherford in 1982.

He was also known for taking Devils rookies into his home as a way to get the young players adjusted to life in the Garden State. These players included Ken Daneyko, Craig Wolanin, Brendan Shanahan and Scott Niedermayer.

Judge Conte was 83 when he passed.

Another close member of the Devils family who passed away was Dr. Barry Fisher. He was the Devils’ team orthopedist from 1982 to 2015.

Dr. Fisher has his name on the Stanley Cup as a member of the team’s medical staff in 1995, 2000 and 2003.

Dr. Fisher died on April 17 from COVID-19 related issues and was 69 years old.