An Epic (5 Overtimes) For The Ages In The AHL

Posted by adn_aces

Posted: April 24, 2008 - 8:58 pm

Former University of Minnesota forward Ryan Potulny ended the longest game in American Hockey League history Wednesday night -- an epic that featured former UAA Seawolves defenseman Chad Anderson and former UAF Nanooks winger Kyle Greentree among the winners -- when his goal 2 minutes, 58 seconds into the fifth overtime gave the Philadelphia Phantoms a 3-2 Calder Cup road win against the Albany River Rats.

The game lasted 142:58 and featured 168 shots on goal. Albany's Michael Leighton stopped 98 of 101 shots and winning goalie Scott Munroe, credited with an assist on Potulny's goal, stopped 65 of 67.

The previous record for the longest game in AHL history was 134:56, set in the Calder Cup Finals on May 30, 2003, when Hamilton's Michael Ryder (now a Montreal Canadien) struck in the fourth overtime for a 2-1 win over visiting Houston.

The longest NHL game in history lasted 176:30 -- Detroit defeated Montreal, 1-0, on March 24, 1936.

The longest ECHL game in history lasted 121:24 -- Greenville beat Louisiana, 3-2, on May 5, 2000.

Greentree fired a game-high 17 shots on goal, and he was one of five Phantoms to reach double digits. Anderson was +1 with five shots on goal.

After four overtimes Wednesday, even the numerology in Albany took on interesting meaning -- Philadelphia had fired 99 shots on goal, Albany 66. If you don't glean the connection to those numbers, your membership in the puckheads union is revoked. (Hint: The game needed a Gretzky or Lemieux type to end it, pronto!)

Early in the fifth overtime, the shot clock in the arena keeping track of Philly's shots turned over to zero because the Phantoms had reached 100 shots and the clock only features two digits.

Both of Albany's goals were scored by center Kiel McLeod, who Alaska Aces fans no doubt know from his time with the Victoria Salmon Kings. Philly's two regulation goals came from Jared Ross, the pride of the University of Alabama-Huntsville and son of former Huntsville bench boss Doug Ross.

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