Manistee & Wayland Play 6 OTs

Report coming in that Manistee and Wayland played six overtimes in their tournament game today, with Manistee pulling out the victory 6-5. The game, which went 86 minutes and 10 seconds, was the 3rd longest game in Michigan High School Hockey history, according to our sources.

Manistee got on the board first with a goal by Logan Rohdy (his first of three on the night) assisted by Brett Truxton. Wayland came back 2 minutes later with an unassisted goal by Tyler Schneider. Wayland went up 2-1 from a rebound goal (from Randy Beck's shot) by Josh Pogodzinski over the shoulder of Manistee's goalie Nick Patulski. Not even 30 seconds later, Manistee answered with another goal by Rohdy on a nice pass from Ryan Fedo. 1st period ended in a 2-2 tie.

The second period was just as close. Wayland was on the board first with a power play goal from Ross Hinkle, assisted by Brian VanFleet. The lead didn't last long as just 8 seconds later, Rohdy scored his third of the game to tie the game at 3-3. With just over 5 minutes to play in the period, Hinkle took a shot from the point and it was tipped in front by Nolan Smith. Wayland took a 4-3 lead into the locker room after the 2nd period.

Manistee started the scoring in the third period with Fedo tying it up on an unassisted goal with 8:26 to play in the 3rd. Pogodzinski scored his second goal of the game for Wayland, just 24 seconds later on assists from Beck and Schneider. Wayland carried a 5-4 lead until 1:20 left to play in the third when Joey Tomczyk slammed home a rebound to tie the game at 5-5.

The overtimes were a blur, but Wayland carried the play for most of the 6 overtimes. They did not keep track of shots in the overtimes, but Wayland had it in the Manistee end with several chances to score. All it took was a flip of the puck out of the Manistee zone which caused a one on one in the 6th overtime. As Tomczyk of Manistee was being taken down, he placed a puck top shelf to beat Wayland goalie Brandon Sopjes ending the hard fought game.

Wayland Coach Ryan McLeod said: "This is a game you hate to lose, but it was such a fun game to coach and be a part of. The goals were back and forth all night long. The shots were 16-18 in favor of Wayland in regulation. These two teams are as evenly matched as they come and both deserved to win the game."