Fans who attended Sunday’s Norwegian League hockey play-off game between Storhamar Dragons and Sparta Warriors certainly got their money’s worth.
With the game staring at 6pm local time, the epic showdown saw the Dragons finally beat Sparta Warriors in the Norwegian League play-offs after a staggering 217 minutes and 14 seconds of play (3 hours and 37 minutes), spread over the course of eight hours and eight exhausting rounds of overtime.
The game eventually ended at 02:32 local time last Sunday 12 March - setting a new record for the Longest professional ice hockey match.
The teams were just a few short minutes away from advancing into their ninth round of over time, before Joakim Jensen of the Storhamar Dragons slapped the winning shot past Sparta’s goalie.
The levels of endurance shown were particuarly impressive from Sparta, with their coach Lenny Eriksson highlighting to press after the match that his team only had three lines of forwards instead of the usual four, giving them three less men to put in rotation on the ice, while forward Christoffer Karlsen, had already played in a match earlier that day.
Though one team ended the match victorious, it took effort from both professional teams to break a record that has stood for more than 80 years.
The previous record holders played a six-overtime match, a deadlock game between the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Maroons in 1936.
For now, both Storhamar and Sparta should work on conserving their energy, as both teams will face off once again for this coming Monday’s elimination game.
