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In search of the longest game

By Michael Trzinski, WiPH Staff, 02/22/20, 10:00PM CST

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Questions that make you wonder...

As I watched the latter stages of the Viroqua-Black River Falls girls game unfold last Thursday, my immediate thought was: am I ever going to get home?

Finally, at 11:23pm, freshman Hannah Lane knocked in a rebound past 'super-goalie' Abigail Severson to give the home team Tigers a 2-1 win at the Milt Lunda Memorial Arena.

Severson's performance has prompted yet another question (Most saves in a high school game for $200, Alex) that might never be answered.

I CAN tell you that Abigail stopped 108 shots in the game, a number that MIGHT be the most in US high school girls hockey history. According to the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) record book, the record is 53 by Austin (MN) goalie Katie Fedoryk back in 2000.

I'm pretty sure that isn't correct, as my daughter Emily had 55 saves in a November 2013 game against the Central Wisconsin Storm.

Let's start with the longest game question, as I have some info about that.

I did some research on Google and Duck Duck Go, and came up with eight other games that lasted more than 100 minutes. They are as follows:

Time Year Team 1 Team 2 Boys/Girls
121:58 2016 Apple Valley (MN) East Ridge (MN) Girls
115:59 2000 Champlin Park (MN) Coon Rapids (MN) Boys
113:35 2019 Central WI Hudson (WI) Girls
113:29 2013 Minnetonka (MN) Lakeville North (MN) Girls
109:00 2008 Marquette (MI) Orchard Lake St. Marys (MI) Boys
103:33 2014 Traverse City West (MI) Traverse City St. Francis (MI) Boys
101:00** 2014 St. Ignatius (OH) Sylvania North (OH) Boys
100:00** 1955 Thief River Falls (MN) Minneapolis South Boys

**Estimated time of game

The game time for the Viroqua-Black River Falls game was 122 minutes, 51 seconds, which if the table above was correct, would be the longest game in US high school hockey history.

Unlike the questions regarding pro sports, high school marks aren't always clearly defined. But there are even arguments about those, as many people (me included) put Henry Aaron's 755 career jacks as the MLB record, as opposed to Barry Bonds' PED-tainted mark of 762.

What it boils down to is this: until someone provides records that say otherwise, the game between Viroqua and Black River Falls is the longest high school hockey game ever, and the 108 saves made by Abby Severson has also set a national high school mark.

Bring on the facts to prove me wrong.