An annual event born out of the tragic death of a young hockey player has grown into something far beyond the dreams of its founders.

The fifth annual Jordan Boyd Celebrity Hockey Challenge was held Saturday at the Dartmouth 4-pad.

The one-day tournament is played in memory of Jordan Boyd. Boyd, a Bedford native, was 16 years old when he collapsed on the ice at his first day of training camp with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

Attempts to revive Boyd were unsuccessful. It was later learned that he suffered from an undiagnosed heart condition known as arrhytmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.

A year later, Boyd's family launched the hockey tournament as a way to celebrate his life. Five years later, the tournament has grown to levels that the organizers could only dream of.

"You know, we started with six teams, and slowly we grew to eight last year, but now we have ten teams and over 150 participants today, and the most pros we've ever had," says Greg Dobson, Jordan Boyd's older brother who started the tournament in 2014.

During one of the rare times that he wasn't on the ice, Boston Bruins star Brad Marchand took in the action. For him, this tournament is personal- even more so after recently becoming a father.

"I've known the Boyd family for a very long time. I've known Jordan since he was just a little boy, so obviously, with everything that's gone on for the family and what they've gone through, the tragedy, it hits home," says Marchand.

So far, Boyd's family has raised over $700,000 for the QEII Hospital's Inherited Heart Disease Clinic.

"We actually have Dr. Michael Akerman up from the Mayo Clinic, who is one of the world renowned experts in heart disease research, and he was able to come up and work with Dalhousie medical students," says Stephen Boyd, Jordan's father.

Money raised in this tournament has also paid for 23 post-secondary scholarships.

Also playing in this year's tournament were NHL players Nathan MacKinnon, James Neal, Josh Anderson and Ben Scrivens. Halifax native Jill Saulnier of the Canadian Olympic Women's Hockey Team also took the ice, and says she felt honoured to be invited.

"The Jordan Boyd tournament is so special, it's raising money for such an incredible cause, and just to be part of it and welcomed by his family is really, really special for me," says Saulnier.

The Boyd family story has also sparked improvements in player safety protocols on the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, with new rules that require teams to have more staff trained in life-saving equipment and more thorough pre-camp health examinations.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ron Shaw.