Banner on the boards at Niverville Arena

There was a special tribute Sunday at the fourth annual Niverville Clippers' Cancer Care fundraiser. Team manager Andy Anderson says they paid tribute to the late Don Koop, a long time hockey coach in the community who died of cancer a year ago.

Anderson says it's ironic that Koop developed cancer and died of the disease only a few years after initiating the fundraising event for Cancer Care Manitoba. "It was the summer of 2010 he was diagnosed with cancer so we had had two of these events already at that point. Our third Cancer Care event he was in the middle of his battle and a couple months after that he did pass away from that. That was tough. Now here we are a year later, we just went through the first anniversary of his passing.

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During a special ceremony Sunday(right), Koop's widow, Rose, was presented with a team jersey and a special banner was installed on the boards in memory of him.

Anderson guesses they raised about $10,000.00 for Cancer Care Manitoba this year, bringing the total for the past four years to about $50,000.00. He says this is a way for hockey players in Niverville to give back to the community.