Sports History On This Day: March 24

March 24, 1936 – A Stanley Cup playoff game takes a record 9 periods to declare a winner. In game one of hockey’s premier championship, the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Maroons completed a marathon contest that ended at 2:25 AM after remaining scoreless for 176.5 minutes of live-action.

Rookie Red Wing winger Mud Bruneteau lit the lamp for Detroit to claim a 1-0 victory. Bruneteau deflected a rolling puck past Maroons Goalie Lorne Chabot to take the first in a best of 5 series after a never to be broken NHL record 116 minutes of overtime.

By comparison, the next closest post-season NHL game in length was the May 4, 2000 game between Pennsylvania rivals the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins. That game 4 of the playoff, with the Pens up 3 games to 1, lasted for 152:01 minutes.

Keith Primeau broke the tie in OT to propel the Flyers to a victory and ultimately won the series. The NHL changed the rules of overtime to include 4-4 play as well as a shootout, should it be needed for overtime sessions in the 2005-2006 season.

To find more great daily sports history make sure to check out the Sports Jersey Dispatch and Pigskin Dispatch.

Maroons skater Lawrence McFarlance "Baldy" Northcott circa 1936
The photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, in the public domain of Maroons skater Lawrence McFarlance "Baldy" Northcott circa 1936. Special thanks to the resource of Newspaper.com and in particular an article from the March 25, 1936, Montreal Gazette by Marc T. McNeil for the information obtained.

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