Ohio High School Hockey Championship Ends In Tie After Seven OT Periods

Two teams entered. Two teams left.

The Ohio high school hockey championship between Sylvania Northview and Cleveland St. Ignatius ended with a 1-1 outcome. Coaches and administrators from both schools agreed that the players were too tired to continue after seven overtime periods. (There are no shootouts in high school.) The final matched the length of the longest high school game in Ohio's history and broke the record for the longest state final game.

The top-ranked St. Ignatius certainly had plenty of chances to break the tie, but Northview's goalie David Marsh was outstanding, making 77 saves. St. Ignatius outshot Northview 78-32, but couldn't get that second goal.

From the Ohio High School Athletic Association's statement on the outcome:

This is an opportunity to show that wins and losses, even in a state championship game, are not more important than player safety. Had a player been seriously injured in the eighth overtime due to fatigue, the decision to allow the game to continue would have been seriously questioned more than the decision to end it.

Ending a championship game without a clear champion may suck a little bit, but these are just high school players, and hockey's an energy-sucking sport for even three regular periods. It's incredible that both teams kept playing for as long as they did, but at some point it has to stop before a kid passes out on the ice. Though the two teams might not be happy with the result—some players from both schools said they wanted to keep playing, but there were others that were reportedly struggling—they're all now part of Ohio's high school hockey record book.

[ BCSN]

Top photo via @WillUjek

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