Before the United States won Olympic gold on Thursday, a 12U playoff game in Minnesota needed three days, 12 overtime periods and a shootout to decide a winner.
The Cottage Grove Wolfpack managed to get the best of the St. Paul Saints during the shootout to advance in the playoffs.
“It was pretty intense,” Cottage Grove coach Brian Deering told USA Today. “It went on for three days, and the kids showed up ready to play every time. It was pretty bizarre with how to plan for it but it was fun to be a part of.”
The game was tied at 1 following three 15-minute regular periods on Monday, Feb. 16. The two teams played six 10-minute overtime periods the day the game started but it remained tied.
The decision was made for the two teams to return to the ice on Tuesday to finish out the game.
“I just reminded them that it’s hockey and it’s the same game we’ve played all year,” Deering said. “They were nervous and scared because they didn’t want to let each other down.
“I just tried to keep it light-hearted as much as possible. We just reminded them to keep it simple and not to do anything too big.”
St. Paul co-head coach John Weiberg told ESPN that after the first three periods played on Tuesday, Feb. 17, the ice needed to be resurfaced with a Zamboni, causing another delay in the action.
The game reached a 10th overtime, but the game still wasn’t decided.
St. Paul and Cottage Grove were unable to finish the game on Tuesday night because another game was already scheduled and waiting to take place. That forced another pickup on Wednesday, Feb. 18.
With the next round of the playoffs already scheduled to take place on Thursday, a winner had to be decided. Decisions were made and that led to a shakeup in how the game was to be determined.
The 11th overtime took place with the traditional 5-on-5 format but changed to a 3-on-3 format, in a similar fashion to the Olympics’ gold medal game and the NHL regular season, for the 12th period.
It was decided that it was best that the game go to a shootout after the game was still tied after the 12th overtime session.
“I think going through the experience that they did bonded them,” Deering said. “It’s not something you can really coach. They lived through that and experienced that. They started playing for each other.”