tamil yogi
Most hockey games last a couple of hours. This week, a playoff game between a pair of 12-and-under girls hockey teams in Minnesota took three days.
On Monday night, the Cottage Grove Wolfpack and St. Paul Saints met in a District 8 postseason matchup. With the score tied at 1-1 after the customary three 15-minute periods, the game went to overtime … and that’s when things began to go off the rails.
After six 10-minute overtime sessions, the Wolfpack and Saints were still knotted at one goal apiece. With the clock ticking toward 11 p.m. local time, it was decided that the two teams would reconvene Tuesday to finish the contest.
“After the first three periods we played, I think, three overtimes, and then they resurfaced the ice, and after that we’re sitting in the locker room waiting for the Zamboni to get done [and] we’re kind of like, ‘Well this is pretty cool,'” St. Paul co-head coach John Weiberg (who coincidentally played youth hockey with fellow co-head coach Michael Reif for St. Paul himself) told ESPN. “‘But how long [is] this going to go?'”
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Much, much longer than anyone likely imagined, evidently.
Tuesday came. Overtime periods 7, 8, 9 and 10 were played. But after an hour, another team needed the ice, and neither team had broken through. The teams headed home once more. Now a dilemma loomed: with the winner of the game, whoever it might be, needing to play Thursday in the next round, there had to be a winner Wednesday night no matter what.
And with 10 overtimes in the book, it began looking more and more as if a decisive goal from open play might not be worth counting on.
Enter an on-the-fly rule change.
It was decided Wednesday that an 11th overtime would be played that night, in a traditional 5-on-5 format. Then, if there was no winner, the ensuing 12th overtime would go to a 3-on-3 format, looking to open up the ice a little more. And if the score were still knotted after a 12th period, a shootout would decide the winner.
“We all agreed that we’d way rather figure it out on the ice than do something crazy off the ice,” Weiberg stated. “So the shootout was not exactly what we wanted to do, but, you know, we had to get the game over at some point, and if the shootout is good enough for the Olympics, it’s probably good enough for 12U hockey too.”
The 12th and final overtime ends.
The Cottage Grove and St Paul / W St Paul 12U- B1 girls remain tied at 1 in their District 8 playoff elimination game.
This will end in a shootout.
We’ll have the winner for you ahead on @KSTP in sports. https://t.co/h5k8Ki5xys
— Chris Long (@ChrisLongKSTP) February 19, 2026
Neither the 11th nor 12th overtime proved to be decisive. It was time for a shootout where, after five rounds saw the score still knotted, a save by Cottage Grove goalkeeper Lydia Pettey and a subsequent goal by Ashlyn Anderson crowned the Wolfpack winners of an unlikely on-ice marathon.
The decisive stop capped a staggering 96-save performance by Lydia, whose outing combined with another yeoman’s effort by St. Paul netminder Ellen Weiberg (55 saves) to keep the teams tied throughout regulation.
A little family expertise in preparation went a long way for Ashlyn on the winning shot.
“Before this game, my brother actually taught me a couple shots [that] would help me score that goal,” she told KSTP TV’s Chris Long after the game.
To say the winning goal brought some closure to Ashlyn and her teammates would be an understatement. “[I was] feeling like: ‘If we lose this, I’m quitting hockey,'” she quipped to KSTP with a smile.
Per KSTP, Minnesota Hockey does not have an official record for the longest game ever, but it’s difficult to imagine Cottage Grove and St. Paul didn’t provide a serious contender — and a lifetime memory for all involved — Wednesday night.
“It’s tough being on the losing end of the game,” Weiberg stated. “But I’m hoping a couple days, a couple weeks, down the road the girls can look back and be like, ‘This was an unbelievable experience, and how cool was it that we got to be part of a game that’s trending nationally when we’re 12 years old?'”
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