Selected by the Boston Bruins in the first round of the 1979 NHL entry draft, Bourque played all but a season and a half of his 22-year NHL career with Boston.
He joined the Colorado Avalanche at the 2000 trade deadline and ended up winning his first and only Stanley Cup championship with Colorado in 2001, after which he retired.
Bourque won the Calder Memorial Trophy in his rookie season. He captured the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenceman four times in five years between 1987 and 1991, and for a fifth time in 1994.
He finished his career with 410 goals and 1,169 assists for 1,579 points in 1,612 regular season games, and added 41 goals and 180 points in 214 playoff games. He was a 17-time all-star and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004.
Also at this year’s dinner, former Axemen coach Tom Coolen will be inducted into the Acadia Sports Hall of Fame in the builder category.
A native of Halifax, Coolen played university hockey with Dalhousie and Saint Mary’s before beginning his coaching career as an assistant at UNB in 1983-1984.
He completed a Masters degree in physical education at Central Michigan University, and was an assistant coach for two years at Ferris State College in Michigan.
Appointed Acadia’s head coach in 1986, Coolen remained behind the Axemen bench through the end of the 2004-2005 season. In 201 games as Acadia head coach, his record was 144 wins, 42 losses and 15 ties.
Coolen led the Axemen to consecutive AUS championships and CIS national appearances in 1992, 1993 and 1994, and to the CIS championship in 1993.
Following his departure from Acadia, interim head coach Mark Hanneman and assistants Mike Alcoe and Darren Burns led the 1995-1996 Axemen, a team Coolen had assembled, to another AUS banner and a second CIS championship.
Since 1995, Coolen has coached hockey around the world, at every level from CIS to professional and semi-professional. He coached the Calgary Flames’ top farm club in Saint John, Moncton of the QMJHL and won another AUS championship with UNB. He also coached several years in the elite professional leagues of Europe.
The last four years have seen Coolen coach at the IIHF world championships in Finland and Belarus and coach Team Latvia at the Sochi Olympics. He spent the 2014-2015 season as an assistant with the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres.
