They’ve beaten their goal of $1 million. The World’s Longest Hockey Game exceeded their goal by Monday, the last day of the continuous game between Team Cure and Team Hope, with $1,071,264 raised by late afternoon. The game was scheduled to end at 6 p.m. Organizers of the fundraiser for Edmonton’s Cross Cancer Institute started to match each dollar donated, up to $100,000, on Friday, when they had reached 80 per cent of their goal. Funds from the game, held every two years, are slated for efforts at the Cross Cancer Institute, including the drive to supply it with CAR T-Cell immunotherapy, a treatment considered one of the most promising advances in cancer care. The institute is trying to raise $2.5 million by the fall to make the immunotherapy available in Edmonton. The 40 players on the two teams had skated for just shy of 11 days at the outdoor rink on host and organizer Brent Saik’s Strathcona County property, known as Saiker’s Acres. They first dropped the puck on Feb. 5. Saik has been hosting efforts to raise money for cancer care at his property since 2003. The World’s Longest Hockey Game has raised close to $10 million for cancer charities in that time.
