Zach Kraft is fighting for more than just a loose puck in front of the net. Before the Austin Bruins playoff game against Minot Saturday night, Kraft found out he has friends in Austin.

The former member of the Aberdeen, S.D., Wings and Wisconsin Wilderness was on hand Saturday night for Zach Kraft Fundraiser Night, an event held by the Bruins to raise money to help Kraft in his battle against glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive stage IV brain cancer.

Through a bake sale, silent auction, T-shirt sale and date auction, Bruins fans and coaches raised than $8,000, with an official count due Monday afternoon.

“It makes me feel good,” Kraft said. “It’s great to see all these people I don’t know come together.”

Kraft is currently in the middle of an alternative medicine approach to fighting the cancer that can spread rapidly. And so far, Kraft said the doctors have been stumped in the face of how well it’s been working.

“The results have been good,” he said. “The tumor has not grown. What I’m doing is working real well.”

Kraft is taking this path over traditional forms of chemotherapy in an effort to keep the harmful chemicals out of his body, but he’s also approaching this with a healthy dose of optimism.

“It’s day by day,” he said. “I’m getting light exercise, especially walking, but yeah, it’s day by day. I don’t want to push it too hard.”