April 8, 2008

By Andy Jasner
Special to USAHockey.com
 
Overtime has always been a part of USA Hockey.
 
But 15 overtimes in three national championship games? Eight in one game? Three consecutive OT games?
 
From the moment fans arrived at Ice Line in West Chester, Pa., on Sunday morning for the four 2008 national championship girls games – 12 & Under, 14 & Under, 19 & Under and 16 & Under – they were treated to more ice hockey than expected.
 
Fifteen minutes before Team Pittsburgh was set to battle Assabet Valley in the 12 & Under title game at 8 a.m., fans from both teams were quite vocal in the bleachers.
 
Little did the fans know how long this game would wind up being. By the time it ended, the clock read 12:15 p.m., and Assabet Valley was celebrating a 2-1 victory when Kara Violette punched home her second goal of the day with 7:18 remaining in that eighth overtime.
 
From one extra session to the next, the fans couldn’t believe what they were watching. The anticipation could be felt. The nervous energy was obvious. The disbelief of what was unfolding on the ice reverberated throughout the rink.
 
Even Mario Lemieux was in awe.
 
“Amazing game,” he said as the players walked back on the ice for the sixth overtime.
 
Lemieux’s daughter, Stephanie, played a stellar game for Team Pittsburgh and even scored the tying goal with 51.8 seconds left in regulation to force the first of eight overtime periods.
 
One hundred eight minutes, 42 seconds after the puck was dropped did a champion emerge.
 
“I’m hungry,” Violette quipped.
 
The emotion flowed on both sides as Team Pittsburgh’s players were noticeably heartbroken while Assabet Valley’s players were happily exhausted. Hey, eight overtimes will do that.
 
“It was an incredible game to be a part of,” Assabet Valley coach Dennis Laing said. “To think how long these girls played and competed is just something. They gave it everything they had on the ice.”
 
As the game went from one 10-minute extra session to another, a decision soon had to be made for the 14 & Under game. That contest was scheduled to start on the same rink (11 a.m.) as the 12 & Under game. When it appeared the opener was going to last well beyond the allotted three hours, the 14 & Under championship was moved to another one of the four rinks at the facility.
 
It turned out to be a brilliant move because the 14 & Under game soon went four overtimes with Assabet Valley defeating Little Caesars, 4-3, on a goal by Brooke Simpson with 9:27 left in the fourth overtime.
 
Assabet Valley’s Jordan Cross, a member of the 12 & Under team, rubbed her winning championship medallion on Simpson’s shoulder between the third and fourth overtime periods.
 
“It was so much fun to play in a game like this,” Simpson said.
 
Many of the fans were buzzing as the game went longer and longer, especially after the 12 & Under game lasted until the afternoon.
 
“We may never make it back home to Massachusetts,” joked one Assabet Valley fan during the third overtime of the 14 & Under game. “We still have the 16 & Under game at 5:00. I wonder how long that game will last?”
 
If 12 overtimes in two games wasn’t enough, the 19 & Under championship featuring the Chicago Mission and Little Caesars added three more overtime periods.
 
It nearly went to a fourth overtime, but Hayley Williams closed the marathon by scoring the game winner with 25.9 seconds left for a thrilling 2-1 victory. All the fans stood and clapped, giving the proper recognition to a third consecutive incredibly well-played game.
 
“This is the greatest feeling,” Williams said.
 
Though Assabet Valley defeated the Connecticut Polar Bears, 2-0, in regulation to capture the 16 & Under national championship, it concluded one remarkable day.
 
It’s a day that may not be repeated for quite some time.

Story courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.