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10/10/2008-Hockey

OLSM TO MEET MARQUETTE IN CHAMPS FOR CHARITY MATCH

By JEFF STEARNS

ORCHARD LAKE —The night before Thanksgiving, the Eaglets of Orchard Lake St. Mary's and the Redmen of Marquette will pick up where they left off in March – tied as state hockey champs. This time a state championship will not be at stake, however, but perhaps, something just as meaningful. The two teams will open their respective 2008-09 seasons playing to benefit children through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The puck will drop for the Champs for Charity game at 8 pm, Wednesday, November 26, at the St. Mary's Athletic Center Hockey Arena in Orchard Lake .

Last March, St. Mary's and Marquette shared the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Division 1 Hockey title after an epic eight-overtime marathon ended in a 1-1 tie. The game marked the only tie in the history of Michigan 's hockey finals and was the longest high school hockey game in U.S. history in the number of minutes played.

It also served as a rematch of the 2007 state final, in which St. Mary's took home the trophy with a 4-2 win over Marquette .

Detroit Free Press reporter Chris Lau likened the latter periods of the epic on ice to a pee-wee league skirmish. “Guys were so exhausted that they were falling over without even being touched. And they were almost unable to get up. . . . Yet they were still skating as hard as they possibly could -- diving after pucks, making hits, and going back to block shots. It was really something to see.” Lau recalled the standing ovation from the thousands still in attendance when the co-champion decision was announced by the MHSAA through the public address system. “It was pure joy in the arena. Everybody was standing up and cheering for both teams . . . It was what was best for everybody. It made sense.”

It became the second longest game in periods played in national hockey history, trailing only an 11-overtime game in 1955 that Minneapolis South won over Thief River Falls , 3-2, according to records provided by the MHSAA. The game was also the first time in the history of MHSAA-sanctioned hockey that a state title game had gone beyond three overtimes.

Reports of the game made the national news with coverage by the Associated Press, ESPN, and EPSN.com . ESPN put the story on the front page of their NHL section.

The Marquette Redmen will arrive at Orchard Lake on Tuesday, November 25, for a teams-only banquet hosted by the St. Mary's Hockey Eaglets.

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