New Varsity Hockey tourney honors Tom Proulx

by Dan McClelland

The Tupper Lake Varsity Hockey Team and its enthusiastic coach, Broyce Guerette, initiated a brand new weekend event at the civic center this past weekend that will honor in coming years the legacy of a man who has been associated with the civic center since its inception.

The new event honors Tupper Lake’s Tom Proulx, who with local builder and businessman Phil Edwards, are the two main people responsible for the creation of the local arena here.

Coincidentally, the new Tom Proulx Legacy Tournament, followed by a week the nine year old tournament that honors his civic center partner, Mr. Edwards.

For his part Mr. Proulx led the public relations and fund drive for years that enabled the arena to be built, directing a very committed crowd of hockey supporters in the community. He was also a mainstay in the building effort, working under Mr. Edwards’ leadership. Following its initial construction Mr. Proulx continued to coach many teams in the Tupper Lake Hockey Association there, operate the place for the most part, oversee its longstanding bottle drive and in recent years worked as its custodian.

It was appropriate that on Saturday, the high school hockey leaders asked Mr. Proulx to drop the first puck of the tournament.