How a local hockey tournament helps bring doctors to the Sault

Organizers, dignitaries, and players posed for a ceremonial faceoff at the John Rhodes Arena on Monday to help kick off another year of the 'Bring a Doctor Home' hockey tournament in support of graduates from the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.

Among those helping drop the puck on the 17th annual event was Sault Ste. Marie native Adriane Bruni, a fourth-year NOSM student who has witnessed the financial and social impacts the Bring a Doctor Home bursary has had on future physicians.

“The tournament is great for awareness, both for the school and the community,” she told SooToday. “We have extremely high costs for getting our education, and a lot of us go into a significant amount of debt coming out of the school journey. This tournament specifically is very helpful for that.”

Involving more than 450 participants across 27 teams — many of them Algoma Steel employees, retirees, and community partners — the tournament’s players have been collecting and contributing pledges for NOSM’s graduating students who have ties to the Sault or the Algoma District.

The funding helps new doctors cover part of their outstanding education fees while encouraging them to practice at home.

According to Bruni, that’s great news for her hometown.

“It motivates people to go back to their home communities and practice which is great,” she said. “If I’m able to, I would love to come back home and work. My family is still here, so it’d be nice to be in the area.”

Organized by executive director Frank DeMarco, the tournament has raised more than $460,000 for graduating students at NOSM since 2006.

Eligible for the bursary this year, Bruni has her eyes set on a residency in orthopedic surgery. She’s currently in the interview stage to get into that program, and if successful, she’ll practice for five years before she’d be able to return to the Sault.

“It’s very nerve-wracking but also very exciting,” she said. “I have one month left of core rotations in Sudbury and then we’ll see. I feel very fortunate to go to NOSM. The program is great, and I love being able to move around and serve different communities in northern Ontario.”

Previous recipients of the Bring a Doctor Home bursary include:

• Philip Berardi – 2009
• Brad Entwhistle – 2010
• Sophie Corriveau – 2011
• Laura Caria – 2012
• Megan Gray-Culina – 2013
• Ashley MacKey – 2014
• Mike Caputo & Kristen Zahn – 2015
• Lindsay Millar & Mike Caputo – 2016
• Shana Tozer & Katelyn Komsa – 2017
• Sarah Hammond, Jessica Kent-Rice & Allan Middleton – 2018
• Madison Burella, Allan Middleton & Jennifer Glassford – 2019
• Alexander Hemy – 2021
• Rachel Rising – 2023

As of last year, five of those recipients were practicing in the Sault, according to DeMarco.

Presented by Algoma Steel, the Bring a Doctor Home hockey tournament is now underway at the John Rhodes Arena.

Residents are invited to cheer on the teams between now and Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Semifinals take place on Friday and finals on Saturday.

Admission is by donation, and all proceeds go to fund scholarships for NOSM.

A full schedule of the tournament can be found here.

“This is definitely something I could see expanding to other cities like Sudbury,” Bruni said. “They have quite a big hockey community there. I’m sure other cities could start it as well and encourage people to come back to those communities too.”