'It hardly felt real': Sask. girls' hockey game stretches into 5-OT marathon

Two Saskatchewan U18 girls' hockey teams finished out the season with an eight-period game and one walking away with two provincial titles.

The East Central Fillies played a home game in LeRoy against the Milestone Flyers after winning against the team in an away game on Friday.

“We won one nothing in overtime,” Fillies coach Murray Elhert told CTV News.

The second game was not so easy for the Fillies.

“We scored first, they countered and then scored another one,” Elhert said. “We were able to tie it up with about a minute left in the third. After that, it become a very long game.”

He said the game could have gone either way.

“Nobody wants to make a mistake. So everybody's playing pretty cautious.”

He said the Fillies players were amazed at how long the game stretched.

“They were physically drained. You could tell, but their spirits were quite high.”

Elhert said some of the players were surprised at how far they were able to push themselves.

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“It hardly felt real,” he said. “We were beginning to think it might not end ever but it was nice we could get that game-winning goal.”

He said the team and parents didn’t take much time to celebrate the win because everyone was so tired.

“The girls are gonna have a little windup party or something like that. But essentially, that's the end. That was two provincial titles in a row. So that says a lot for the dedication of these girls.”

Elhert said the team had decided at the beginning of the year they wanted a win.

“That's what they decided they want to do is get back there and they did,” he said. “It was a good way to end the season. We had five kids that are graduating out, so it was good for them.”

He also wanted to give a shout-out to the refs of the game for enduring the extra time.

“They come from Saskatoon to do a game, not two and a half games. So the refs should always get a little bit of props, too.”