On March 24, 1936, the NHL’s longest game ended when Mud Bruneteau scored the only goal for the Detroit Red Wings in a semifinal playoff win over the Montreal Maroons after 176 minutes and 30 seconds, including six overtime periods.

This past weekend, a determined group of 9- and 10 year-old girls almost beat that record in an incredible day — and we mean day — of hockey at an Atom A Provincial round-robin championship tournament in Toronto between the Stratford Aces and the Chatham Outlaws.

More than five hours after their game began, Emily McFadden, 10, scored the winner for the Aces in a shootout neither side wanted. The Grade 5 student was the fourth shooter for Stratford in its 1-0 win.

“I was feeling kind of scared as the game went on. It was intense,” McFadden said. “I was very tired and the other team was barfing.”

She was very excited after she scored the winner.

“Right before I flipped, I saw it. The puck was in slow-mo,” she said. “In the huddle, our goalie, Skyler Stockie said ‘thanks for scoring’. “

The two teams played 12 periods of overtime (10 minutes) after a scoreless 36 minutes (three 12-minute periods) of regulation play for a total of 156 minutes, just 20 short of the infamous NHL game played 76 years ago in Montreal.

Tired and exhausted, some of the girls came off the ice and lay down on the bench before their next shift. But the girls from both teams repeatedly insisted they wanted to decide the game on the ice, not in a shootout. Eventually, both coaches agreed a winner had to be decided.

“They did an amazing job, that’s for sure,” Stratford coach Rob Gilchrist told the Toronto Star in an interview. “I started to wonder if it would ever end after the fourth overtime period. There were a lot of scoring chances. Both goalies played really well.”

With the ice being cleaned every three periods, the youngsters got a few chances to go to their dressing rooms for some rest. Parents also provided the girls with snacks, power drinks and granola bars.

“Emily is actually one of our best defensive defencemen,” Gilchrist said. “Typically, you put out your top forwards for the shootout. But our three didn’t score and neither did their three so I sent out Emily. The way she was playing it just seemed like she would be the one to end it and she did.”

Gilchrist said the girls from both teams were pretty tired when it was all over.

“They were getting to the point of exhaustion but they wanted to keep playing and decide it on the ice as a team,” Gilchrist said. “Health wise, it wasn’t like they were dehydrated. Our trainers kept asking them if they were feeling OK. But you could see the fatigue was setting in on the ice.”

Gilchrist said it was a tough call to make but both coaches decided it was time to end it with a shootout.

“Our benches both seemed to hit the wall at the same time,” he said.

The game set an Ontario Women’s Hockey Association record, beating a gold medal Bantam C match between Ripley and Timmins which lasted 130 minutes in 2006.

But the Stratford Aces’ day didn’t end there.

After a two-hour break, the Aces hit the ice again. They played another full game and nearly three periods of overtime before Stratford earned a 1-0 victory over North Halton on a goal by Tori Gavin, 10 with about three minute left in the third overtime.

Altogether, they played nearly 21 periods of hockey in a single day at the Canlan York Arena.

They had spent 12 hours at the rink and returned Sunday morning but lost 6-0 in the semifinal to an Oakville team, the eventual tournament champions.

“They gave it their all for the whole day,” Gilchrist said. “Both teams deserve a lot of credit. It was something else for sure.

“It (Sunday’s loss) was a tough loss but we left the arena on Saturday about 8:45 p.m. after being there since 8:45 a.m. and we had to play the next day at 8:15 a.m. But they tried their hardest. To be honest, we lost to the best team because Oakville went on to win.”