It won’t rank up there with Pat LaFontaine’s epic playoff goal for the New York Islanders in the fourth overtime period over 30 years ago, or Keith Primeau’s game-winner for the Philadelphia Flyers in the fifth overtime in the 2000 NHL post-season, but a minor hockey game last weekend featuring nine- and 10-year-olds is one that will be talked about for a while.
On Saturday night at the Arena in Glovertown, the Paradise Warriors and Northeast Eagles hooked up for the seventh time this season, this time in the championship game of the provincial Atom F championship.
And it would be a doozy.
Isaac White’s goal 3:11 into the fifth overtime period — 88 minutes and 11 seconds after the first drop of the puck — gave the Warriors the gold medal.
While there are no official records kept for such things, it’s widely believed the game is the longest in the history of Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador’s provincial minor championships.
The teams played three 15-minute periods of stop time, followed by 10-minute overtime periods.
“In our house league games,” said coach Kevin Power of his Warriors, which are designated an atom D-level squad in the Paradise minor association, “we play 10-minute stop time periods, so when you take into account, the kids almost played three complete stop-period games.”
The ice was resurfaced after the first period, followingf regulation time, and then after the second and fourth overtime periods.
Parents were busy running out and purchasing water, Gatorade, fruit and granola bars for the players.
“Our first concern was their health, of course,” Power said. “After a while, between periods in the dressing room, we didn’t even talk hockey. We tried to let them relax because you could see they were getting tired.”
Surprisingly enough, Power said, there was not a single player feeling nervous as the game went deeper and deeper into overtime.
“There was nobody saying, ‘Don’t put me out, I don’t want to go.’ And we kept telling the kids, ‘If you’re tired and you can’t go, let us know.’
“One player, Evan Kelly, looked up at me during one of the overtime periods and said, ‘Coach, no matter what, do not forfeit this game!’
“Here was a kid who was skating on an injured leg and had to take a timeout during the game telling me not to throw in the towel. That really shook me.”
White potted the game-winner on a rebound from a scramble in front of the net.
“I didn’t even see it,” Power said. “I was too busy whacking the fluids into the kids.
“I heard the cheers, I looked up and (assistant coach) Jamie Norris was jumping up and down. With that, it hit me.”
The Warriors and Eagles had met six times this season, with each team winning three times. Paradise fell behind 2-0 after the first period to knot the score at three and send the game into extra time.
Northeast had registered a 4-1 win over Paradise earlier in the tournament’s round-robin.
TEAM ROSTER
Members of the Paradise Warriors atom D team are Alex Whiffen, Benjamin Power, Ella Meade, Evan Kelly, Isaac White, Gavin Sheehan, Jack Carter, Jaxon Downey, Jayden Desroche-Spurvey, Kameron Loveless, Layne Norris, Owen Boutcher, Preston Maxwell, Preston Gillingham, Riley Hogan, Zachary Greene, Zander Hogan, coach Kevin Power, assistants Todd Whiffen, Jamie Norris, Sheldon Greene and Brian White and manager Wendy Meade.
