Former Axemen Bench Boss Inducted to Hall of Fame

Coolen to be inducted into Acadia University Sports Hall of Fame

May 22, 2015

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – Acadia University and the Department of Athletics are pleased to announce the first of several inductees into the Acadia Sports Hall of Fame. The event is held every second year and is scheduled for Saturday, October 17th, 2015.

Former hockey Axemen head coach Tom Coolen will be inducted into the Acadia Sports Hall of Fame at the Annual Axemen Hockey Celebrity Dinner scheduled for Thursday, June 18, 2015.

Coolen, a native of Halifax, N.S., played for the Dalhousie Tigers and Saint Mary’s Huskies during his undergraduate degree. Coolen began his university coaching career as an assistant coach with the UNB Varsity Reds, capturing an AAAU title in 1983-84. Prior to his appointment at Acadia in 1986, Tom completed his MA in physical education at Central Michigan University. For two seasons after graduation, Coolen served as an assistant coach at Ferris State College in Big Rapids, Michigan.

Coolen’s stint at Acadia spanned 8 seasons. His 201 regular season games as the Axemen’s bench boss accumulated an astonishing 144 wins, 42 losses, and 15 ties. Coolen captured a 1992-93 CIAU national championship and three AAAU championships during his tenure at Acadia from 1987 to 1995. Coolen also received the Father George Kehoe Memorial Award as CIAU Coach of the Year in 1993 and regained the award after the 1994-1995 season.

Over the past twenty years, Coolen has coached all around the world including the Calgary Flames farm team – the AHL Saint John, N.B. team; the University of New Brunswick – winning another AUS championship; in the QMJHL with the Moncton Wildcats and several years in the Elite leagues of Europe.

The last four years have seen Tom at the top of his profession cumulating with coaching stints at the IIHF World Championships in Finland and Belarus, and the most recent Olympic Games in Sochi with Team Latvia, followed by this past season with the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres.

Acadia University will be releasing the remaining Acadia Sports Hall of Fame inductees in the coming weeks.