McFarland, Midgley, & Ryan to be inducted into Acadia Hockey Honour Roll
Induction to take place at the Celebrity Hockey Dinner on June 22nd
The Acadia Axemen will add three more legendary names to their Acadia Hockey Honour Roll in the coming weeks. It was announced today that Acadia alumnus and former Axemen captain Paul McFarland, and former assistant coaches Jim Midgley & Troy Ryan will be inducted during the Axemen Celebrity Hockey Dinner on June 22nd.
McFarland played for the Axemen for four seasons from 2006-2010, Captaining the team for 3 seasons. In 2019, the Axemen would introduce an annual award in Paul’s name, the Paul McFarland Captain in the Community Award, to recognize a player for demonstrating leadership qualities in the combination of academics, athletics, and involvement in the community.
In 2020, Paul was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumni award from the Acadia Alumni Association.
Paul is currently the assistant coach of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken, after previously holding the same position with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers.
Jim Midgley, was an assistant coach with the Axemen from 2003-2007, he would spend 4 seasons with the Axemen under Head Coach Darren Burns, highlighted by back-to-back 1st place AUS finishes in 2004-05 & 2005-06, and winning the AUS championship in 2005-06, earning a birth in the UCup tournament.
Midgley went on to win the Memorial Cup as an assistant coach with the Halifax Mooseheads, before taking over as Head Coach of the team for the 2017-18 season. The past two seasons, he served as an assistant coach in the NHL, with the New York Rangers with PEI’s Gerard Gallant as the Head Coach.
Troy Ryan, was an assistant coach at Acadia from 2001-2003. The Axemen were in rebuilding mode and Troy was essential in nurturing the young team to learn and grow despite missing the playoffs. He would spend 2 seasons with Acadia before moving on to become a head coach and general manager in the Junior A, Maritime Hockey League.
Ryan has been the Head Coach of the Women’s National Team since 2021, leading Team Canada to back-to-back gold medal finishes at the 2021 and 2022 World Women’s Hockey championships. His Team Canada team won the gold medal at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.
In April of this year, the Canadian women’s team finished just short in its bid for a third-straight IIHF Women’s World Championship gold medal, falling to their arch rival, the United States.
This past May, Troy was an assistant coach with Hockey Canada’s Men’s World Championship gold medal winning team. Troy also serves as the Head Coach of the Dalhousie women’s hockey team.
Acadia Head Coach Darren Burns welcomed the announcement of the 3 inductees to the Honour Roll saying, “This is an extremely special event for the Acadia Hockey Program. The Acadia Hockey Honour Roll is a very prestigious part of our program. There are so many people who have given so much to Acadia and have continued to be exceptional contributors to the game, across the globe, when they leave Acadia. Inducting Troy, Jim, and Paul into the Acadia Hockey Honour Roll at the Acadia Celebrity Hockey Dinner makes it that much more special. These three individuals have had a tremendous impact on not just Acadia Hockey and the Acadia Community, they have also coached at the highest levels in the world. When you achieve this, you positively impact so many along the way. Bringing them back to the Annapolis Valley and to our arena is going to make for a very special day.”
The Acadia Celebrity Hockey Dinner takes place on Thursday, June 22nd at 7pm, with headlining celebrity Guy Carbonneau. For tickets, please contact the Acadia box office, or visit acadiau.universitytickets.com