By John Raffel
MaxPreps.com
It was a game for the ages. It certainly lasted long enough.
The second longest game in high school hockey history — according to available records — was played Saturday in Plymouth, Mich., at Compuware Sports Arena.
It was for the Division 1 state championship, but ended in a 1-1 tie after eight overtimes when the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) determined it would be too risky to continue the game.
MHSAA officials said Marquette and Orchard Lake St. Mary's would be declared state co-champions.
"I thought it was the best high school hockey game I've seen in my entire life," said Marquette Coach Joe Papin. "I have mixed feelings about the decision to have co-champs. But I can understand the state's decision in not wanting to see anyone get hurt."
The MHSAA said it surpassed a six-overtime game played in the state regionals a week ago with Sault St. Marie beating Petosky 2-1.
The MHSAA said available records show the longest game in national history for high school hockey occurred in 1955 when Thief River Falls, Minn., lost 3-2 to Minneapolis South in 11 overtimes.
At the Michigan state finals game, regulation consists of three 15-minute periods. An overtime is eight minutes. The Marquette-OLSM game was played for 109 minutes. It started at 7 p.m. EST and ended about 4 hours and 20 minutes later. Marquette had a 1-0 lead with 1:36 left in regulation.
Orchard Lake St. Mary's pulled its goalie, Ryan Morley-Stockton and scored four seconds later off a faceoff with Tim Hooker notching the tying goal.
The two teams had played for the title in 2007 with St. Mary's winning 4-2.
Marquette had a 59-34 shots advantage. Mike Peterson scored Marquette's only goal in the second period. Marquette had a 20-5-3 record while St. Mary’s was 15-12-2.
"We were so tired that we were feeling like ordering out some pizzas," Hooker said. "We knew how the other team felt. Whoever wanted it more would win. I guess we both wanted it so much.”
Division 3
Calumet won its first state title since 2003 with a 1-0 overtime victory against Flint Powers Catholic in Division 3.
After three periods of scoreless regulation play, Logan Rastello broke the tie with a goal 4:18 into the overtime.
Flint Powers goalie Matt Crowder rejected Rastello's first shot. But the rebound came back out to Rastello's stick. This time, the shot went between Crowder's pads for the winning goal, and the Copper Kings, with an 18-11 record, started their championship celebration.
It was a stunning disappointment for Flint Powers, which ended its season at 25-4-1.
"I thought we played well enough to win," Powers coach Travis Perry said. "When you get to an overtime like this, it comes down to a fluke goal. I never thought we would lose."
Flint Powers out-shot Calumet 8-6 in the first period and 14-5 in the second. Calumet tied Flint Powers 9-9 in shots in the final period and had a 5-1 shots lead in the overtime.
"Goaltending kept us in the first two periods," said Calumet coach Jim Crawford, who has a 24-year record of 432-183-16 at Calumet and has won six state championships. "We've had two games in a row like this. That's a lot of pressure for these kids.
"This is my most memorable state championship team. This team was only around .500 a couple of weeks ago and things didn't look too good. Things were going rotten."
The Copper Kings, located in the northwest portion of Michigan's Upper Peninsula in the hometown of football legend George Gipp, traveled 500 miles to Plymouth to lay claim to another state crown.
Goalie Tyler Juntilla had 32 saves for Calumet while Crowder had 24 for Powers.
"We thought Powers' defense would be the best we'd face and it would be tough to score against them," Crawford said. "We knew they'd be tough."
Rastello smiled when the senior was asked if his championship-winning goal was the most memorable of his hockey career.
"I figured it would take circumstances like that to score against them," he said. "It was the final shot of my hockey career."
Division 2
Trenton scored three unanswered goals in the second period for a 3-0 state championship win in the Division 2 title game against Midland.
Trenton ended its season at 25-1-4 while Midland is 23-3.
Cory Deback, assisted by Scott Henegar, broke a scoreless tie in the second period at 1:24. Then it was Kody Polkin's turn to score at 6:22, assisted by Camden Wojtala and Blake Mikolajewski at 6:22.
The third Trenton goal, on the power play, was scored by Mikolajewski, assisted by Wojtala and Josh Miller.
Trenton had a 24-14 shots advantage, outshooting Midland 8-6 in the first, 12-5 in the second and 4-3 in the third.
Trenton goalie Marco DeGrazia had 14 saves compared to 21 saves for Alex Sepesy of Midland.
Trenton's coach, Mike Turner, has a 22-year record of 496-89-45. Trenton has won 11 state championships.
