The NHL has received backlash after slashing a donation to cancer research by $800,000 after a missed shot during a charity promotion.
The incident came during Sunday’s game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins. Rob Higgins, the athletics CEO of the University of South Florida, was brought on to the ice to attempt a shot through a very small opening in an empty goal. If Higgins, who is a cancer survivor, made the shot the NHL said it would donate $500,000 to cancer charities; if he missed the donation would be $100,000. The event was broadcast live on Sportsnet in Canada and ESPN in the US. Higgins missed what was a very tough shot. He was then given another chance, with a guaranteed donation of $200,000 if he missed, which would increase to $1m if he scored. Higgins missed again.
Higgins thanked the Lightning and the NHL for an “amazing honor” but many on social media attacked the league for leaving $800,000 on the table that could have gone to charity.
One account said the move was “classless”, adding that “the NHL should’ve built the widest net and asked dozens of survivors to score symbolically”. Another user called the event “dystopian”.
Higgins was a little more upbeat. “And with that, my hockey career (which thankfully only lasted two shots) is now officially over,” he wrote on X.
