# hockey and sudden death overtime **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 20, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-and-sudden-death-overtime/169908 "2003-04-20T20:23:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![habs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@habs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/habs)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-and-sudden-death-overtime/169908/1 "2003-04-20T20:23:10Z")
What would happen if, during the multiple sudden death overtime periods in an NHL playoff game, no team would score? Suppose the game stretches into 8, 10, 12, even 15 overtime periods? Eventually, you’d get to a point where all the players would get too tired to continue playing. What do you think the NHL would probably do in this scenario? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-and-sudden-death-overtime/169908/2 "2003-04-20T21:11:08Z")
Keep playing. This isn’t the All-Star Game. 🙂 Yes, the players would become exhausted. But that would include the goalies, and eventually the exhaustion would lead to a mistake and a goal. ---
**Author:** ![bradwalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@bradwalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bradwalt)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-and-sudden-death-overtime/169908/3 "2003-04-20T21:20:06Z")
Slightly off-topic: WP Kinsella (author of Field of Dreams) wrote a novel “The Iowa Baseball Confederacy” about a baseball game which exteneded into hundreds of innings ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-and-sudden-death-overtime/169908/4 "2003-04-20T21:30:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Rule 89 – Tied Game > > (a) During League games, if at the end of the three (3) regular twenty (20) minute periods, the score shall be tied, each team shall be awarded one point in the League standings. > > The teams will then play an additional overtime period of not more than five (5) minutes with the team scoring first declared the winner and being awarded an additional point. The overtime period shall be played with each team at a numerical strength of four (4) skaters and one (1) goalkeeper. Additional penalties to be assessed consistent with the rules in regulation time. Source: [http://www.nhl.com/hockeyu/rulebook/rule89.html](http://www.nhl.com/hockeyu/rulebook/rule89.html) In league games, there may only be one overtime period. ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-and-sudden-death-overtime/169908/5 "2003-04-20T21:39:39Z")
IIRC, the longest overtime game in NHL history went 8 overtimes. That game was played without resurfacing the ice between periods, so you can imagine how nasty the ice was after over 200 minutes of play. The NHL official rules state that the duration and number of overtimes in playoff games shall be determined by the Board of Governors. I believe that the Board of Governors has stipulated that overtimes be 20 minutes and of unlimited number, although I cannot verify that at this time. There is nothing in the NHL rules that permits a referee to suspend the resumption of play. A team that fails to return to the rink after the mandated intermission forfeits. It would probably require a decision by an NHL supervisor at the game to suspend play until the subsequent day, and I consider that unlikely. Of course, if the venue forced play to suspend (local curfew or whatever), then the game would be rescheduled due to inability to continue; I believe in that case the game resumes at the very point play was halted as soon as it is possible to arrange it. ---
**Author:** ![habs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@habs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/habs)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-and-sudden-death-overtime/169908/6 "2003-04-20T22:14:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duckster \* > \*\*In league games, there may only be one overtime period. \*\* Duckster, that rule applies only for overtime games during the regular season. My question was about what the NHL would do if neither team scored in the **playoffs** after numerous overtime periods. In the playoffs, teams keep playing overtime periods until a team scores a goal, or collapses from exhaustion, whichever comes first. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![habs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@habs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/habs)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-and-sudden-death-overtime/169908/7 "2003-04-20T22:22:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KellyM \* > \*\*Of course, if the venue forced play to suspend (local curfew or whatever), then the game would be rescheduled due to inability to continue; I believe in that case the game resumes at the very point play was halted as soon as it is possible to arrange it. \*\* Would people really show up (and pay full price) for a resumed playoff overtime hockey game in which the game-winning goal could potentially be scored one minute in (or even less)? I think that if a game had to be suspended due to extreme player exhaustion, the NHL would have to completely replay the entire game from scratch in order to keep things “fair”. There is actually precedent for this; in 1990, a Stanley Cup Finals game was postponed due to a power failure, and had to be completely replayed (all records in that first postponed game were expunged). ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-and-sudden-death-overtime/169908/8 "2003-04-21T03:11:24Z")
Keep playin!!! Anyone else remember the Flyers/Penguins game a few years back? Rumor was they ordered pizza during the 3rd OT intermission. ---
**Author:** ![Lockz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Lockz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lockz)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-and-sudden-death-overtime/169908/9 "2003-04-21T03:12:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KellyM \* > \*\*IIRC, the longest overtime game in NHL history went 8 overtimes. That game was played without resurfacing the ice between periods, so you can imagine how nasty the ice was after over 200 minutes of play. \*\* Actually, the longest game was 6 overtimes, between the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Maroons on March 24, 1936. Mud Bruneteau scored the winner after 176.5 minutes of play. [[Cite]](http://www.infoplease.com/ipsa/A0105147.html) ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-and-sudden-death-overtime/169908/10 "2003-04-21T04:03:11Z")
**Lockz** , thanks, that was the game I was thinking of. Obviously my memory is slipping a bit. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-and-sudden-death-overtime/169908/11 "2003-04-21T06:46:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cyberhwk \* > \*\*Keep playin!!! > > Anyone else remember the Flyers/Penguins game a few years back? > > Rumor was they ordered pizza during the 3rd OT intermission. \*\* I believe that the teams ran out of Gatorade or whatever particular sports drink they used, so the trainers went out and bought large quantities of Pedialyte for the players to drink during an intermission. ---
**Author:** ![Frank\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Frank\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank_2)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hockey-and-sudden-death-overtime/169908/12 "2003-04-21T13:06:23Z")
During the Flyers/Penguins game it was reported that the trainers were administering IVs to the players during the intermissions and even during the game (in the locker room). I don’t know if any of the big 4 (NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB) have limits on the number of overtime periods in a playoff game. Ties just can’t happen in the playoffs, there must be a winner.