Student Well-Being

High School Ice Hockey Championship Ends in Tie After Seven Overtimes

By Bryan Toporek — March 09, 2014 1 min read
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Two Ohio high schools will share this year’s state ice hockey championship after battling through seven overtimes on Saturday without ending up with a victor.

In the interest of player safety, the head coaches of Saint Ignatius (Cleveland) and Sylvania Northview (Sylvania) agreed with administrators of the Ohio High School Athletic Association to end the 1-1 contest before starting an eighth overtime period. It’s the first time in Ohio ice hockey history that two teams will share the state title.

There is no national high school ice hockey rule for ending a game in a shootout. Thus, with players battling severe fatigue, coaches and administrators from both schools collaborated with OHSAA officials following the seventh overtime before declaring the game a tie.

“This is an opportunity to show that wins and losses, even in a state championship game, are not more important than player safety,” the OHSAA said in a statement. “Had a player been seriously injured in the eighth overtime due to fatigue, the decision to allow the game to continue would have been seriously questioned more than the decision to end it.”

While both teams may be forced to share the title, each squad set a state record of some sort. Sylania Northview goalie David Marsh notched a championship-record 77 saves, while Saint Ignatius set a championship-game record with 78 shots on goal. It was also the longest championship ice hockey game in state history and the second-longest ice hockey game (of any sorts) in state history.


After the game, Saint Ignatius coach Pat O’Rourke told reporters that he would have rather played 1,000 overtimes than have the game be decided by a shootout,

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A version of this news article first appeared in the Schooled in Sports blog.