The Calgary Flames announced today that Mikael Backlund and Jason Barriere are this year’s recipients of the J.R. McCaig Award.
The J.R. McCaig Award honours two Calgary Flames personnel, a player and a staff member, who best exemplify McCaig’s enduring virtues of respect, courtesy and compassion for all individuals he encountered both in his professional and everyday life. J.R. “Bud” McCaig, who was a long time member of the Flames ownership group, passed away 13 years ago following a lengthy battle with cancer.
Since 2003, Jason Barriere has worked in Building Operations for Calgary Sports and Entertainment. In April of 2013, he took on a full-time role as Assistant Maintenance Manager and assumed additional responsibilities that included working on a number of the renovation projects and managing snow removal activity
Backlund is a past recipient of the Ralph T. Scurfield Humanitarian award. He and his fiancé Frida’s run the “Uncorked for ALS” event, which helps support the ALS Society of Alberta and raised over $80,000 in hopes of finding a cure.
The recipients of the J.R. McCaig Award receive a limited-edition bronze sculpture entitled RESPECT that depicts a cowboy showing his appreciation and respect to his horse by loosening the cinch, removing the bridle and allowing the horse to drink from his hat. The pieces were sculpted by Cremona, AB artist Diane Anderson
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