The George Gipp Ice Arena warming area will be dedicated to long-time Calumet athletic volunteer Al Ayotte. Ayotte (center) dropped the puck last Friday to open the second game of the Gibson Cup game between Calumet Wolverines and Portage Lake at the Calumet Colosseum. Charlie Turner is on the left, Logan Rastello is on the right. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

LAURIUM — Thanks to a very generous donor, the village has reached the goal of installing a new ice plant in the George Gipp Ice Arena.

During the Calumet Wolverines vs. Portage Pioneers Hockey Game on Friday, Calumet High School graduate Andy Storm generously donated $75,000 to help ensure that ice skating opportunities continue to be a long and lasting tradition throughout the Copper Country.

Storm, a founding partner of Storm Equity Holdings, is a graduate of Michigan Technological University, where he played football before going on to earn two additional degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before playing a leader in several large corporations.

“He was the commencement speaker at the Calumet High School graduation ceremony last spring,” said Lewis.

In honor of this generous donation, said Village Manager Ian Lewis, the Laurium Village Council has agreed to name the George Gipp Warming Area of the ice rink after Al Ayotte.

“Al has impacted so many peoples lives over his illustrious career while helping with football, hockey, basketball, and other sports teams,” Lewis said. “Al was able to do the ceremonial puck drop Saturday night for Game 2 of the Gibson Cup.”

While Storm was growing up, Lewis said, he and Ayotte were neighbors.

“Al kind of walked with Andy and his brothers when they were little,” Lewis said. “So, they’ve always had a good relationship, and Al was a volunteer at the football games, and that’s where Andy and Al really got to know each other.”

Everyone in the area knows Ayotte, Lewis said, through his volunteering efforts.

“He’s always helping out and so it’s nice to finally be able to give him some credit, recognition, for something,” Lewis said. “He’s helped out on the hockey team, he’s helped out on the football team, and other community teams and sports.”

For the past several months, Laurium has been campaigning to raise funds to renovate the George Gipp Ice Arena and replace its ice generating plant. The current ice plant dates to 1976.

During the February regular meeting of the Laurium Village Council, Trustee Jeff Erickson said that the village had fundraised $250,000 of the $325,000 campaign goal for Phase 1 of the project, leaving the village short by $50-75,000.

Lewis said the generous donation from Storm places the village in the position of completing Phase I of the Gipp project.

“We should be pretty much all set,” Lewis said, “with the exception of a few electrical components but the village is going to make up the difference at this point. We have enough to go forward with Phase I, which is fantastic.”

Lewis said the village will next look at Phase II, which involves acquiring new boards and new glass for the facility.”