VIctoria Royals set Canadian Hockey League record for longest game

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WATCH: The Victoria Royals have set a new record in both the Canadian and Western Hockey Leagues for playing the longest game in junior hockey history. Calvin To reports.

The Victoria Royals have set a new record in both the Canadian and Western Hockey Leagues for playing the longest game in junior hockey history.

“You never know that it’s going to go long. You only realize that it has gone long. You kind of look back and you’re like, ‘We’ve been here for a long time, haven’t we?'” says Pol Plastino, game host for Royals home games.

The game lasted a total of 151 game minutes, or six and a half hours of real time, including five overtimes. If it were an NHL game, it would have been the fourth longest in league history, right after a May 2000 game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins, which lasted about a minute longer.

It is a scenario Plastino and his team have planned for, but have never had to put into action.

“When I got on the ice and said, ‘Okay, we’ve got some more t-shirts now,’ I thought people would be like, ‘Oh, enough with the t-shirts already!’ But no, the fans were up on their feet jumping up and down,” Plastino says.

It was also the longest hockey game local sports historian John Bates can remember.

Bates managed the former Victoria Memorial Arena for more than three decades and saw countless games.

“[Fans] were probably thinking, “I hope this ends soon and I hope we win,'” Bates says.

Unfortunately for Royals fans, the night didn’t end with a victory.

Still, the day after, it was a talking point for the community as well as a point of pride.

“It’s things like this that really prove the worth of having a hockey team at this level in Victoria,” Plastino says.

Calvin ToCalvin To

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