Ice hockey: Awesome! Playoff game lasts over six hours

The American Hockey League, the second most important ice hockey league in North America after the NHL, played the longest match in AHL history on Thursday night. It took six hours and six minutes (146 minutes and 48 seconds of play) before the Lehigh Valley Phantoms crushed Charlotte Checkers in Game 4 of the Atlantic Division finals.

Alex Krushelnyski scored the 2-1 victory for the Phantoms after 6’48” in fifth extra time at 1.09 a.m. local time in Charlotte. The previous record in the 82-year history of the AHL was held by the Philadelphia Phantoms and the Albany River Rats. This game ended 3:50 minutes earlier in 2008.

Even in the NHL, there have only been three encounters so far that have lasted longer than the meeting between the Phantoms and the Checkers.

The record is held by the match between the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Maroons, which ended on March 24, 1936 at 3:25 a.m. in the ninth third after 176 minutes and 30 seconds of play.

The longest ice hockey game ever took place in Norway in 2017. The Storhamar Dragons defeated the Sparta Warriors after 217 minutes and 14 seconds of play in their eighth extra time at 2:33 a.m. local time.