War of donations breaks out between Flames and Oilers fans

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — Following the most recent Battle of Alberta, a battle of donations has broken out between Flames and Oilers fans.

After Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk threw a pair of rather large hits on Oilers forward Zack Kassian, Kassian responded by going after Tkachuk, throwing punches on the Flames forward while he tried to shield himself from the punches.

That on-ice exchange turned into a war of words between the pair off the ice.

Now, what was initially a troll job by Flames fans, has turned into thousands of dollars being donated to charities in the two cities.

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It started out with a GoFundMe page started by Flames fan Mohamed Elsaghir. The page was made to raise money to have multiple billboards of Matthew Tkachuk put up in Edmonton.

Then local Calgary radio station CJAY92 pledged to front the costs of the billboards, making it so the money raised for the billboards would now, in turn, be donated to ALS research. A move made to support Flames Assistant GM Chris Snow who recently announced his diagnosis with the disease.

UPDATE :

Local radio station CJ92 is helping set everything up. THEY WILL BE TAKING CARE OF THE BILLBOARD!! And All the money raised will be donated to ALS research. Thank you to everyone who has helped get this done. I honestly did no expect this to get this big.

— -M ???????? (@Moe_Saghir) January 14, 2020

Following the move by Flames fans, an Oilers fan decided to kick start a movement of her own among those in Edmonton.

Hey #Oilers twitter, I have a challenge for you:

In response to Flames fans buying a billboard, I’ve decided to donate to one of their local charities in honour of @zkassian9! I chose @BrownBaggingIt so that kids can get a proper meal and grow up to be tougher than Tkachuk. pic.twitter.com/q83tmNeNND

— Sam (@SamInYEG) January 14, 2020

Samantha Costa made the decision to donate $25 to Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids, a local Calgary charity that makes lunches for children who don’t have the resources or money to have lunches made at home.

That move by @SaminYEG has since blown up.

“Our latest update is Oilers fans have donated $16,000, which equates to about 8,000 lunches,” Executive Director for Brown Bagging Tanya Koshowski said.

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That wasn’t all either. Local entrepreneur and Dragon’s Den star Brett Wilson star has pledged to match the donation to the charity up to $10,000 as well as donate $5,000 to a local Edmonton charity.

I can’t celebrate what @zkassian9 did. But cause is worthy & one I volunteer for already.

So I will match – up to $10k – whatever @EdmontonOilers fans can do for @BrownBaggingIt by noon Friday.

And give $5k to an EDMONTON shelter to be chosen by @SamInYEG #BabyItsColdOutside https://t.co/obiwQvUInj

— * W. Brett Wilson * (@WBrettWilson) January 15, 2020

“There is a lot of negativity on Twitter, sometimes we all get caught up in it,” Samantha Costa, who started the Edmonton donations said. “If we can do something fun and positive, even if it’s only for a little bit, it might be a fun change.”

The love being thrown around between the two sides is certain to be dropped once both teams hit the ice again on January 29.