World's longest hockey game played in deep freeze in Alberta

The Associated Press
Feb 15, 2021
Feb 15, 2021
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Goalie Andrew Buchanan celebrates as his team score a goal while taking part in the World’s Longest Hockey Game near Edmonton on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021. Forty players are taking part in the game that will last 252 hours, to raise money for cancer research.

JASON FRANSON — foreign subscriber, The Canadian Press

Players take part in the World’s Longest Hockey Game near Edmonton on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021. Forty players are taking part in the game that will last 252 hours, to raise money for cancer research.

JASON FRANSON — foreign subscriber, The Canadian Press

Kate Gallagher places cardboard cutouts of fans during the World’s Longest Hockey Game near Edmonton on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021. Forty players are taking part in the game that will last 252 hours, to raise money for cancer research.

JASON FRANSON — foreign subscriber, The Canadian Press

Goalie Andrew Buchanan is scored on as Justin Christopher celebrates during the World’s Longest Hockey Game near Edmonton on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021. Forty players are taking part in the game that will last 252 hours, to raise money for cancer research.

JASON FRANSON — foreign subscriber, The Canadian Press

JASON FRANSON — foreign subscriber, The Canadian Press

SHERWOOD PARK, Alberta — The world’s longest hockey game carried on in ghastly cold weather.

Forty people took turns playing hockey on an outdoor rink 24 hours a day, seven days a week since Feb. 4., all in the name of cancer research.

Temperatures plunged at times between a bone-shaking minus 40 and minus 67 Fahrenheit (minus 40, minus 55 Celsius). Pucks were shattered as players passed them along the boards, skate blades broke in half, pieces of masks fell off as glue let go and goalie pads cracked.

The game was played on a rural property during an extreme cold weather warning that persisted for much of the last 10 days.

“The players were troupers,” said Kate Gallagher, one of the event’s organizers. “They were warriors.”

The seventh edition of the game has raised about $1.5 million for cancer research at the University of Alberta. The game hit the 252-hour goal at dawn Monday and broke its own Guinness World Record.

The final score, according to the event’s Facebook page, was 2,649 to 2,528 for Team Hope.

“But the real winners? Cancer patients at the Cross Cancer Institute,” the post said.