Students at St. Francis of Assisi Middle School in Red Deer were able to take part of the day off Friday, to play some outdoor hockey all while raising money for the Alberta Cancer Foundation.

The hockey game cost each student $10 to play in and $2 to watch, and as grade 6 math and science teacher Michelle Frunchak explains, they got the idea from another hockey game being played that's attempting to break the world record for the longest game.

“We are playing an all-day hockey game with students from grade 6-9. Basically we are doing a companion event to the World Longest Hockey Game which is taking place up in Sherwood Park currently.”

Clayton Bower played in the World's Longest Hockey Game back in 2008 and was on hand at the school to drop the puck at the ceremonial opening faceoff.

He talks about how these games are about more than breaking world records. 

“It was more than a game because everybody knows somebody or has somebody who has touched them with cancer, so it was like a fight within a fight. The game itself was a ton of fun, the guys were great. It was hard on your body, we had guys that went down with frostbite…I had numbness in my fingers for almost a year.”

The St. Francis of Assisi players rotated out every 55 minutes, to ensure the game was being played non-stop all day. The kids hope to raise at least $1,000 for the Alberta Cancer Foundation.