N.S. nets record for longest hockey game
Last Updated: Saturday, January 5, 2002 | 10:39 PM ET
CBC Sports
They slapped around a puck for 30 hours, stopping only for brief breaks when the ice was cleaned.
It began when three dozen players, including six goalies, from around Nova Scotia faced off in Brooklyn, N.S. at 11 a.m. Friday. They had been inspired by a similar event in Alberta last year.
"We saw the guys from Red Deer go for 19 hours and said, 'We can do that'," recalled Ken McCormick, one of the organizers.
They had wanted to play the historic game on nearby Long Pond, considered by some to be the birthplace of hockey. But to qualify for the record officials told them the match would have to be held on a regulation-sized rink.
The N.S. teams continued to skate all night Friday and into Saturday afternoon, with a scattering of fans showing up from time to time to cheer them on.
"Come on, let's go," shouted one man. "We don't know who any of the players are," admitted another. "We cheer for whoever has the puck."
When the final buzzer sounded in the arena, organizers said they had shattered the old world record by several hours.
The final score was 213 to 174, although the most important numbers were recorded elsewhere: the game lasted 30 hours, and the players raised about $20,000 for a children's sports charity.
