Photos of the Queen's Golden Gaels Women's Hockey team's 2-1 overtime victory in game 1 of the 2011 OUA championship series versus the Guelph Gryphons at the University of Guelph's Gryphon Centre, Guelph, ON on March 2, 2011. The Gaels subsequently beat Guelph in Kingston for a 2-game sweep of the OUA Championship.

All photos are Copyright (c) Jeff Chan 2011, but may be used for personal non-commercial use, and by Queen's University, the CIS and its member conferences, so long as photo credits are shown or the photos are otherwise attributed to Jeff Chan. All other rights are reserved.

=============================================================================================
QUEEN'S EDGES GUELPH 2-1 IN LONGEST COLLEGIATE GAME IN HISTORY
=============================================================================================

GUELPH, Ont. (March 2, 2011) - Morgan McHaffie scored at 17:14 of the sixth overtime period to lead the Queen's Gaels to a 2-1 win over the host Guelph Gryphons in Game 1 of the best-of-three Ontario University Athletics women's hockey final, Wednesday night.

The game, which lasted 167 minutes and 14 seconds, including 107:14 of extra time, is the longest on record in CIS or NCAA hockey - women's or men's.

When compared to the NHL, it trails only a contest played on March 24, 1936 that saw Detroit beat Montreal 1-0 after 176:30 of action (including 116:30 in OT).

After battling for 60 minutes in regulation, Queen's and Guelph played a 10-minute overtime period, then four 20-minute OT frames, before McHaffie ended the affair at 17:14 of the sixth OT.

Making the game even more dramatic, Guelph was only 4.2 seconds away from victory in regulation but Becky Conroy of Pembroke, Ont., saved the day for Queen's with the tying goal at 19:55 of the third.

With the game going to six overtime periods, it surpassed a previous collegiate record by 17 minutes and eight seconds. That game took place in the NCAA less than one year ago (March, 12, 2010) between Quinnipiac University and Union College in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) hockey quarterfinals.

In terms of CIS history, the previous longest game was 125:07 including 65:07 of extra time (over five overtime periods). That contest was also a women's game which saw Toronto edge York 2-1 on February 12, 2000. The longest CIS men's game on record happend just last week when UNB defeated Acadia 3-2 on February 26. That game featured 1:21:53 total minutes including 61:52 of overtime.

Tonight's game lasted five hours and 15 minutes starting at 7:37pm and finished at 12:52pm (EST).

Queen's goalie Mel Dodd-Moher of Stittsville, Ont., turned aside 66 shots in her fourth consecuritve playoff win. Danielle Skoufranis of Thornhill, Ont., took her first loss of the 2010-11 playoffs facing 46 shots. Guelph outshot the Gaels in six of the nine periods including four of the six overtime frames.

After the first two periods were scoreless, thanks to some solid defence from both teams, the Gryphons opened the scoring thanks to Tori Woods of Orangeville, Ont. Woods deposited a rebound past Dodd-Moher after the Gaels netminder had stopped opportunities by both Jenna Lanzarotta of Mississauga, Ont., and Dayna Kanis of Georgetown, Ont.

With the game seemingly in hand for the Gryphons, the Gaels pulled Dodd-Moher with under a minute to play. Guelph had an opportunity to ice the game with the net empty but Jessica Zerafa of Mississauga, Ont., hit the side of the net with less than 40 seconds remaining to keep the Gaels in the game. With just five seconds left, off a mad scramble in front of Guelph's Skoufranis, Conroy found a loose puck and fired it into the net to force overtime.

After the Gaels carried the play in the first overtime, the Gryphons took over the game and seemed poised to end the game on numerous opportunities. However, each time, Dodd-Moher and the Gaels' defence found a way to keep the puck out of the net.

As the game entered the fourth overtime period, it became apparent that the winning goal would have to come off a hard work play by the offence. The Gaels appeared to have the winner late in the fourth overtime when OUA Semifinal series' hero Brittany McHaffie of Guelph, Ont., pushed a rebound past Skoufranis but the goal was immediately waved off as the referee has blown the play dead.

The best chance for Guelph to end the game came in the fifth overtime when Elizabeth Kench of Gananoque, Ont., was sent off for hooking, just the third penalty handed out in overtime. However, the Gryphons failed to get a quality shot on goal and the Gaels survived to push the game into sixth overtime.

Just as it appeared that the game would carry on, Queen's found a way to get the puck past Skoufranis. Brittany forced a turnover at the blueline before Alex Cieslowski of Oakville, Ont., fired a shot on goal. The rebound fell right on the stick of Morgan who, despite having a defender draped all over her, pushed the puck past Skoufranis to end the marathon contest.

Queen's is now 4-0 in the 2011 playoffs, all 2-1 victories that went to at least second overtime. The Gaels' playoff results so far are as follow: OUA quarter-final: Queen's 2, Windsor 1 in 2OT (20:34 of OT); OUA semifinal Game 1: Queen's 2, Laurier 1 in 2OT (13:24 of OT); OUA semifinal Game 2: Queen,s 2, Laurier 1 in 2 OT (27:31 of OT); OUA final Game 1: Queen's 2, Guelph 1 in 6OT (107:14 of OT) TOTAL: 168:43 of overtime since playoffs started.

Game two of the series is set for Friday, March 4 at the Kingston Memorial Centre. The opening faceoff is scheduled for 8:30pm.

NOTES: Morgan McHaffie (1-3-4) and twin sister Brittany (2-1-3) have tallied seven points on Queen's four overtime goals in the post-season, scoring three of them. Morgan assisted on Kelsey Thompson's (Martintown, Ont.) game-winner against Windsor. Brittany scored both winners against Laurier, each time assisted by Morgan. And Brittany set up Morgan's winning tally against Guelph... Queen's is riding a 10 game winning streak which started against Western back on January 23