A group of dedicated athletes is in the midst of what may seem like a never-ending hockey game at the Chestermere Recreation Centre.
Hockey Marathon for the Kids kicked off on Friday, April 5 and has been going non-stop since then. Players are working in four-hour shifts, toiling away on the ice for a cause greater than the final score.
Team Hope and Team Cure are facing off, rallying behind a cause close to their hearts: raising money and awareness for pediatric cancer. All of the money raised from this 262-hour long hockey game will go to the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation.
“It is an endless rotation of skate and sleep,” said Melanie Sortland from the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation. “We are just in absolute awe and admiration.”
The game started in 2012 when 40 men took to the ice to raise funds for the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation while trying to break the Guinness Book of World Records for most consecutive hours of playing ice hockey. Since then, it has grown.
Families, along with kids who are fighting cancer, have been stopping by the arena, cheering on the players, many of whom are wearing a patient’s name on their back.
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“It’s pretty special to see their own name on the back of their jerseys,” said Sortland. “It means a lot.”
In order to beat their own world record, the 43 players competing in 2024 will have to play 262 consecutive hours, or around 11-and-a-half days.
“It’s for the kids,” said Kyle Fagnan, who is playing in the marathon for the fourth time. “We hear these stories and the impact of making treatments go from three years down to one year.”
When asked about how sore he was around 80 hours in, Fagnan is optimistic, saying: “I’m feeling pretty good. It’s amazing what the body does to adapt to the event.”
The 2024 game will last until April 16. As of Tuesday, the Hockey Marathon for the Kids raised $547,274.
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