Tom McCollum honored for his contributions to the Grand Rapids community
By @MichaelCaples –
The Grand Rapids Griffins announced today that goaltender Tom McCollum has been named the team’s winner of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award for his work away from the ice.
The award is presented to a member of each AHL club for “outstanding contributions” to his community.
McCollum, a native of Cambria, N.Y. and a first-round draft pick of the Red Wings, is just the second member of the Griffins to be given the award twice, as he was recognized for his community service last year, as well. Jimmy Howard is the only Griffins alum to receive the award twice in a career.
“Tom McCollum is as good an ambassador of the Grand Rapids Griffins and the sport of hockey as anyone we’ve had in our 19 years of existence,” said Bob Kaser, Griffins vice president of community relations and broadcasting, in a release. “He, like most hockey players, completely embraces community involvement and recognizes the difference he can make in people’s lives, and I’m here to tell you that he is a hero to many in West Michigan.”
This season, McCollum helped start the TLC Club (Tommy and Lando Care Club), which provides Griffins season tickets to the Boys & Girls Club of Grand Rapids in hopes of increasing hockey’s popularity in West Michigan. He conducted a free one-hour clinic in February for more than a dozen goaltenders from the Griffins Youth Foundation with the help of teammate Jared Coreau.
The Griffins’ release proudly states that McCollum “has been a pillar of service in every major charitable event this season, including including walking dogs at the Pups and Pucks Fall Walk-a-Thon for Mackenzie’s Animal Sanctuary, interacting with fans at the Great Skate Winterfest to raise funds for the Griffins Youth Foundation, partaking in the annual sled hockey game with the Grand Rapids Sled Wings and serving beverages at Corks, Pucks and Brews for Easter Seals Michigan, among many other volunteer opportunities.”
As his team’s IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year team award winner, McCollum is now one of 30 finalists for the AHL’s Yanick Dupre Memorial Award. The winner of that award will be announced later this month.