Flames-Oilers billboard feud results in over $30,000 donated to Calgary charity

Jan 16 2020, 10:15 pm

The Battle of Alberta is known for bad blood, but this latest feud between fans of the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers is giving everyone all the feels.

In response to what he called a series of “dangerous” hits from Flames winger Matthew Tkachuk, Oilers forward Zack Kassian took matters into his own hands on Saturday. Kassian pummelled Tkachuk, and was suspended two games by the NHL for fighting an unwilling combatant.

Flames fans then began raising money to put Tkachuk’s face on a billboard in Edmonton as a troll tactic. Calgary radio station CJAY92 got in on the action, offering to pay for the costs.

That allowed Mohamed Elsaghir, the Flames fan who started the fundraiser, to donate the money raised (currently more than $8,000) by fans to ALS research instead.

Oilers fans responded.

In honour of Kassian, Oilers fans donated money to Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids, a Calgary-based charity that “connects and inspires people to take meaningful action to feed and care for kids.”

But what started as a $25 donation by an Oilers fan named Sam quickly snowballed, as a number of other fans in Edmonton quickly followed suit.

W. Brett Wilson, an entrepreneur and philanthropist according to his Twitter profile, then took it to another level. He offered to match up to $10,000 for Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids as well as $5,000 to an Edmonton charity of Sam’s choosing (she chose YESS).

Wilson then offered to fly Sam to Nashville, with two tickets to a Predators game (Wilson is an investor with the Predators), if fans could raise $20,000.

They did.

But it doesn’t stop there.

ATB Financial has also stepped up, offering to donate $2,500 to each of The ALS Association and Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids.

Confused? Who cares, what a great turn of events.

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