A local cancer survivor is looking to give back by putting together a hockey tournament to raise funds for cancer research.
Jeff Casey of Snapd Windsor is behind the Play For A Cure pro-am tournament March 28 and 29.
He says there are a number of former NHLers already signed on and a couple of more he's working on having participate.
So far Marty McSorley, Dennis Maruk, John Ogrodnick, Marty Turco and Todd Warriner have agreed to play.
Casey says this is a first time event he hopes will become an annual.
"We've been working on this for about three months kicking all this off. It's been a lot of fun though, we're into a process that's very big. As I talked about we've got three big events happening with the draft party, with the hockey tournament and the Detroit Red Wing Alumni game"
He is looking to give back after he survived Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
"I was diagnosed the day after my daughter was born, like it was a crazy time. But as soon as I got my mind around what I had to deal with and realized the people around me including everyone in this hospital, I knew I was in a good place"
Casey says the goal is to net $100,000 and he'll need help.
"We're also looking for more sponsors of course, we don't have everything full. And we're going to need volunteers, we're going to need lots of volunteers. Our participants are going to show up on Thursday night, they're going to drop off their hockey bag and their stick. We're going to take them so that when they show up Friday morning their equipment's all laid out nicely in their changeroom"
There will be eight teams in the tournament being held at the Atlas Tube Centre in Lakeshore.
The team that raises the most funds will get to draft first and choose the pro to lead them.
And the top fundraising individuals will get to play the Red Wings Alumni on the Friday night to end the tournament.
All proceeds go to the newly formed Cancer Research Collaboration Fund.
Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj, cancer researcher Dora Cavallo Medved, ex-NHLer Todd Warriner, Pay For A Cure founder Jeff Casey, Windsor Regional Cancer Centre, December 10, 2018 (by AM800's Peter Langille)
All the details are available at www.playforacure.ca