The Heckle

The Heckle (formerly The Heckle in Eckville) is an annual charitable hockey game between the members of OilFans and Calgarypuck. It takes place in central Alberta, Canada, between Edmonton and Calgary.

History

As OilFans and Calgarypuck both grew as fan sites for the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames, the members of these sites discussed organizing their own Battle of Alberta. The organizers decided on the Eckville Arena in Eckville, Alberta as the venue for the first game, and named the event The Heckle in Eckville.

A second game was played the following year. Planning hiccups delayed the third game until February 2004, when the venue was moved to the much larger Enmax Centrium in Red Deer, Alberta. A decline in interest on both sites due to the 2004-05 NHL lockout cancelled the 2005 game. The game has been played annually since March 2006, when the name was simplified to The Heckle and roman numerals used to denote the iteration.

List of Games and Results

* The Heckle in Eckville: March 3, 2001. Team Calgarypuck wins 11-6.
* The Heckle in Eckville 2: January 26, 2002. Team Calgarypuck wins 21-8.
* The Heckle in Eckville 3: Haetz on Gaetz: February 8, 2004. Team Calgarypuck wins 22-8.
* The Heckle IV: March 6, 2006. Team Calgarypucks wins in shootout, 8-7.
* The Heckle V: February 10, 2007. Team OilFans wins 16-12.
* The Heckle VI: January 26, 2008. Team OilFans wins 12-7.
* The Heckle VII: January 25, 2009.

Charitable Association

Beginning with The Heckle V, the organizers have asked participants and spectators to bring donations for the Alberta Food Bank. The Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, and various organizations have also been contacted and asked to donate items for auction, whose proceeds would also be donated to the Food Bank.

Participants

Currently, there are two teams in The Heckle:

* Team OilFans, who are all members of the Edmonton Oilers fan site OilFans, and
* Team Calgarypuck, who are all members of the Calgary Flames fan site Calgarypuck.

On occasions, friends and family of members have also played for Team OilFans due to low member attendance.

There has been interest in including the Vancouver Canucks fan site Canucks Central in the game, but geographical distance prohibits this.

Location
The Heckle is currently played at the Enmax Centrium in Red Deer, Alberta. Previously, the game has been played at the Eckville Arena in Eckville, Alberta. Both locations were chosen because they are roughly equidistant from both Edmonton and Calgary.

See Also
*Calgarypuck

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