That was a heck of a game. I'm sure Dave Allison was in Dallas tonight celebrating. He coaches the Stars' AHL farm club now in Iowa.
Anyway, when I see a game like that it reminds me of the Komets-St. Paul 4 OT game in 1960. Lionel Repka told me this story for the next Komets book:
That was also the year of the longest game in Komets and IHL history as Fort Wayne battled St. Paul through four overtimes in a game that started on April 14 and ended on April 15, 1960. And that's where the problem starts. St. Paul tied the game with 2:10 left in regulation on a 40-foot slap shot by Aggie Kukulowicz past Komets goaltender Reno Zanier who always had problems on long shots because of poor eyesight. As the game dragged on and on, three hours later an exhausted Kukulowicz told an off-ice official he wished he had never scored the goal.
Both teams had chances to win during the first three overtimes, but play continued until 1:25 a.m. when St. Paul's Eliot Chorley rifled a slap shot from the blue line that hit Zanier's stick and deflected into the net.
``I remember that puck going up in the air,'' Repka said. ``It hit somebody's stick and went up and over us and hit Reno on the back. I was maybe 15-20 feet from the net. It was one of the flukiest goals ever.
``I remember I got home about 2 in the morning. We had just finished and I was hot. I opened a bottle of beer and lay back, and I honestly didn't have the strength to pick it up and drink it. Everybody was wiped out.''
Back to me: When you are too pooped to pick up a beer, now that's tired. Two things that are even more amazing about that game. This was in the ear when each team played with 12 skaters, so I can't even imagine how tired they must have been. The other thing is that game happened on a Thursday night/Friday morning. The Komets came back to win on Saturday and then Sunday to force a Game 7 on Monday. Can you even imagine how tough those guys were? Incredible.
