Record attempt at longest hockey game ends after 11 days, $1.1M raised for cancer treatment

A file photo of a cancer equipment fundraiser and world record attempt at the world's longest hockey game in Sherwood Park, Alta. (CTV News Edmonton)

An attempt in Sherwood Park to play the world’s longest hockey game raised more than $1.1 million for equipment at Edmonton’s Cross Cancer Institute.

The $1,100,304 raised will be used to help purchase seven pieces of equipment for the facility’s CAR T-cell laboratory, a $2.5-million endeavour.

“The new equipment will support the development of personalized, cancer-fighting immune cells right here in Edmonton, helping make treatment faster, more accessible, and more cost-effective for Alberta patients,” an Alberta Cancer Foundation spokesperson said Wednesday in a statement.

Cart T-cell immunotherapy involves using a patient’s T cells to make the cancer-fighting treatment.

The world record attempt began Feb. 5 and ended on Monday. The game was 10 days, 21 hours, and 20 minutes long.

Team Hope beat Team Cure 1,823-1,761.

The game is played every two years.

Of the $2.5 million needed, a total of $2.1 million has been raised.

“This result is nothing short of incredible,” fundraiser founder Brent Saik said in a statement. “What we witnessed on and off the ice was a powerful demonstration of what happens when community and determination come together. The players, officials, volunteers, sponsors, and donors poured their hearts into this event, and the impact will be felt by patients and families across Alberta.”

Saik organized the inaugural World’s Longest Hockey Game in 2003, which lasted 80 hours.

Since then, $7.8 million has been raised for the Cross Cancer Institute through world record attempts at longest sports games.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Craig Ellingson and Hannah Kavanagh