It's not just the love of the game but the love of a Winnipeg man that has people playing a ball hockey tournament this weekend.

Around 200 people are getting together at the Norberry-Glenlee Community Centre for the 7th Annual Jim Woodman Invitational ball hockey tournament.

Captain Jim Woodman passed away in 2004 at the age of 51 from job-related cancer as a firefighter. His family created the tournament as a legacy project to raise money for the local Cancer Care Foundation in Manitoba.

"He was a guy cracking jokes. He would put peanut butter on the light switch," his daughter Vanessa said. "He'd stay up in the middle of the night looking at flyers in order to make sure that the fire hall had the cheapest, best dinner than any other fire hall.... There's always a story or a hundred that you can tell about my dad that will always make you laugh at the end."

Each year Vanessa travels from Calgary to Winnipeg for the tournament. She said it's important to keep her father's legacy alive.

"It's really sad that my dad's not going to be able to walk me down the aisle or be there for all of our weddings," she said. "And, you know, for the sacrifice of wanting to help the citizens of Winnipeg and make sure that they are safe that he contracted job-related cancer."

Around 200 people are getting together at the Norberry-Glenlee Community Centre for the 7th Annual Jim Woodman Invitational ball hockey tournament. (Cliff Simpson/CBC) Jim's son, Cole, came up with the idea for a sports-related fundraiser. Reminiscing about a tournament, Cole said that Jim was dad and coach.

"I didn't play the best hockey but he was always there supporting me," Cole said. "I remember after he took everyone out for pizza, we went to Pizza Hut together, he took out my whole team and actually a couple of those guys on my team are still are on my ball hockey team this year."

Although the tournament is a lot of work for Cole, Vanessa, and Jim's wife Debby it's become an important tradition.

"They have so much fun, they just do," Debby said. "It just brings a sense of community and this is something that, now these guys are 29 and 30 years old, and they still can be able to have fun."

There are 14 teams involved in the tournament this year as well as a barbecue and a 50/50 draw. So far, it has raised more than $33,000 for cancer care.

"The only thing that you can do is come together as friends and family and honour his legacy, his love," Vanessa said.

The tournament runs Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.