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There’s typically no love lost between the NHL teams who face off against each other in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but that bad blood isn’t limited to the mutual dislike between players on the ice.
It’s only natural that opposing fans are going to get into it over the course of a series, and if you’re rocking the away team’s jersey when you head into enemy territory, you’re basically asking to get chirped by more than a few members of the home crowd over the course of the contest.
Of course, it goes without saying that there are lines no one should cross—especially when the fan in question is a kid.
Unfortunately, based on what Evander Kane had to say earlier this week, that didn’t stop a Los Angeles Kings fan from leaping over that line after allegedly spitting on Cecily Eklund, a 10-year-old brain cancer survivor who’d made the trip to L.A. to root on the Edmonton Oilers for Game 3 of the first-round playoff showdown between the two teams.
Cecily’s mom Cathy said they were subjected to harassment from other fans who swore at them during a game that saw the Kings walk away with the 3-2 victory in overtime.
While that may be the textbook definition of “A Bad Look,” Global News reports plenty of other Kings supporters stepped up to try to atone for the misdeeds of the proverbial bad apples by donating to the fund Cecily has set up to benefit other kids facing a battle with cancer.
Cecily had already raised more than $100,000 for her incredible admirable cause, and her mother said Kane’s post and the ensuing fallout led to Kings fans flooding the page with donations to the tune of $7,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.
You obviously wish that money had been raised under different circumstances, but it’s still a very welcome development.