Tournament
The Jordan Boyd Celebrity Hockey Challenge was established in 2014 to celebrate the life of Jordan Boyd and the wonderful young man he was. Additionally, it was hoped that the event could be used to raise some funds to help with research into inherited heart diseases. The event was the idea of Jordan’s older brother Greg and older cousin Colin. As they said at the time, “there had been so much sadness in the previous year, let’s do something to celebrate Jordan’s life, something he would love”.
On August 8th, 2014, just shy of the one-year anniversary of Jordan’s passing, six teams took to the ice in the first Jordan Boyd Celebrity Hockey Challenge at the BMO Centre in Bedford, NS. Where Jordan played much of his minor hockey. Some 100 players competed, many of them current and former QMJHL, CIS, and ECHL players. They were joined by 8 Pro’s who graciously gave up a day of their busy schedules to participate. They included Brad Marchand, Nathan MacKinnon, James Sheppard, Andrew Bodnarchuk, Shawn O’Donnell, Zach Sill, and Darren Rumble. Since then, the tournament has grown to 12 teams and Pro’s joining us include Liam O’Brien, Josh Anderson, Ben Scrivens, Drake Batherson, Riley Barbour, James Neal, and Shane Bowers amongst others.
To Date, the tournament has raised $1,058,000 for inherited heart disease research through our partnership with the QEII Foundation.
On July 27th, 2021, 144 golfers came together for the first-ever Jordan Boyd Celebrity Golf Challenge. A total of $155,000 was raised for the Inherited Heart Disease Clinic at the QEII in Halifax. Funds raised for this important cause in Jordan’s name has had the following important impact:
– Patients who are suspected of having an inherited disease are able to be seen by cardiologists much sooner now.
– The clinic at the QEII has gone from one day a week to four days a week.This is critical.
– Two doctors from the clinic have been able to take 6 months of advanced training in inherited heart disease detection and treatment at the Mayo Clinic in the US and have brought this knowledge back to look after Atlantic Candians.
– This event has raised awareness of the importance of knowing CPR and AED’s and afford the opportunity to place AED’s in a number of public places in Nova Scotia.
– The Clinic doctors hosted a 2 day conference in Halifax bringing top doctors and medical support people together to share information on inherited and the latest research. A leading expert from the Mayo Clinic was a guest speaker.
– A research resource has been able to be hired to build and maintain a database of patients that is used by doctors for study purposes and learning.
On behalf of the Boyd Family, thank you! Below is a photo from the day – Jordan’s parents on the 17th hole – Jordan’s number.
