The score was nothing extraordinary – a 2-1 home win for Storhamar Dragons over Sparta Warriors – in the quarter-final of the Norwegian championship.
Locked at 1-1 following the first three periods the match turned into a comedy of errors and saves – Storhamar firing 96 times at goal and Sparta 93.
Finally eight and a half hours after the game started and 217 minutes and 14 seconds of play later Joakim Jensen scored the winner for Storhamar.
The longest previous game was in the NHL, when the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Maroons 1-0 in a 1936 Staney Cup final after 176 minutes and 30 seconds.
The match began at 18:00 and finally wrapped up at 02:30 Monday morning with local police revealing they received frantic calls from worried families after some spectators had failed to return home.
“Due to the match between Storhamar and Sparta, which has lasted a bit longer than normal, there are people who miss their loved ones”, police tweeted just before 02:00, before following up with a second tweet, informing followers that “for information, the match is not over.”
Hamar; Grunnet hockeykampen mellom Storhamar og Sparta, som har vart noe lengre enn vanlig, er det folk som savner sine kjære.
— Politiet i Innlandet (@politiinnlandet) March 13, 2017
Please whitelist us to continue reading.