142 minutes, 58 seconds... appproaching 3 full hockey games played last night/this morning at the Times Union Center.
It's a shame someone had to lose.
Ordinarily, I can't stand that cliche.. but this is one time it was true.
River Rats and Phantoms played one of the great hockey games of all time last night, and not just because it was a long game, in fact, the longest ever in the AHL.
Just consider some of the stats:
Michael Leighton 101 shots face, 98 saves
Scott Munroe 67 shots face, 65 saves.
There it is right there...you can't get outshot 101 to 65 and expect to win...funny
Leighton estimates he drank 15 bottles of Gatoraide last night. The guy is unbelievable, played every second of the game then still join us outside of the locker room and answered all out questions. By the way, he was the 2nd star in last nights game. 98 saves = 2nd star. What's a guy got to do to get first star?
Leighton's save total is an AHL record. The old Rats record? 41 Saves by Frederic Henry back in the last playoff game in Downtown Albany prior to this series. Leighton had 41 saves 3 shots into overtime. We still had a full game and another period to play.
Rats forward Marc Cavosie, the Cohoes native and former RPI star is getting to be an old hand at these games. He played in the 2nd longest game in AHL history, 134:56, in 2003 when he was with the Houston Aeros. Marc quick to point out that the Aeros lost that game, and then went on to win the Calder Cup.
Oh the things a guy comes up with after 5 hours and 38 seconds of hockey.
Game winning goal scorer Ryan Potulny said he played a game like this, a 5 overtime game in high school. His team won making him 2-0 in 5 overtime games. That's gotta be a record on some level, right?
Game Six in Philly, about 36 hours after Game 5 ended. Count on all the players being ready. After all.. they're hockey players!
