Tournament to be held in memory of Gary J. Surette

Details regarding Yarmouth event to come; four teams took part last year

A spokesperson for the Gary J. Surette Memorial Association says they will be putting on another hockey tournament, details of which are still to come.

Shelley LeBlanc, the association’s president, said the first tournament last year “went over really well ... it’s hopefully going to be bigger (this time). We’re going to change a few things and try to get some more teams involved.”

The inaugural tournament, at Yarmouth’s Mariners Centre, in 2017 drew four teams.

The tournament was part of a weekend of hockey in memory of Gary J. Surette, a Yarmouth County resident who died of cancer in late 2015.

Surette, who was 53 when he died, had coached local minor hockey in the 1990s and 2000s with Brian “Sumo” Comeau. After Surette died, Comeau thought of organizing a tournament in Surette’s memory. He talked about it with LeBlanc, a good friend of Surette’s, who suggested they make it a fundraiser.

With the help of another friend, Glenn Bourque, a weekend was organized last April that included not only a hockey tournament but a special game featuring some former National Hockey League players, among them Hall of Famer and longtime Boston Bruin captain Ray Bourque.

The weekend was a fundraiser for the Gilles Boudreau & Friends Cancer Help Fund and the Lodge That Gives.

As for this year, besides planning to hold another tournament, LeBlanc says the association will be looking to do another fundraiser of some sort, which likely will happen in May or June or perhaps the fall.

“We knew we didn’t want to plan something for over the winter because you can’t trust the weather,” LeBlanc said.

The event will be different from last year – no hockey game with former NHLers this time – but just what it will be has yet to be announced.

A good number of ideas came up at the association’s last meeting, LeBlanc said. The group will hold its annual general meeting soon, likely in March, she said.