Trying to be inconspicuous, a patron at the Montreal Forum carefully pulls out his pocket watch. As his eyes spot the time, he gasps, and thinks to himself, my wife must be worried sick. “How much longer do you think this will last?” he asks his companion. “I don’t know, but I’ve got to be at work in five hours,” the friend replies. It was just after 2:00 a.m., and they, along with 9,000 others, had been watching the Red Wings play the Maroons since the puck dropped the previous evening.

Both teams had been trading chances for hours, literally, but neither club had been able to find the back of the net. The game was now into its sixth period of overtime, and it seemed like the contest would never end. The players were exhausted. The fans, at least those who were awake, were growing restless as the matchup continued to drag on.

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Then, it happened. Detroit’s Modere “Mud” Bruneteau, who had recently been called up from the Olympics, the Red Wings’ minor league affiliate, scored the biggest goal of his career. As he released his shot on Montreal’s goaltender, Lorne Chabot, the crowd collectively held its breath. Could this be it, was it finally over? The puck bobbled up over Chabot’s foot to break the scoreless deadlock, and mercifully end the longest game in NHL history. By the time the battle-weary players had cleared the ice, it was 2:20am on March 25, 1936.

When it was all said and done, the Wings and the Maroons had duelled into the early morning hours in what amounted to six additional overtime periods, for a grand total of 176 minutes and 30 seconds of hockey, surpassing the previous mark of 164 minutes and 46 seconds set the by the Bruins and Maple Leafs in April 1933.

Heading into that game, the first in a best-of-five final to determine who would go onto compete for the Stanley Cup, Detroit knew they had their work cut out for them. Montreal were the reigning champions and were favored to beat their Motor City opponents. After that first match, however, the Red Wings were firmly in the driver’s seat. Guided by the incredible play of their goaltender, Normie Smith, who had stopped upwards of 92 shots, Detroit now seemed infallible.

The next day, the talk in the Detroit Free Press focused on the momentous game and toll it must have had on the players. According to Red Wings general manager and coach, Jack Adams, it “was the longest game in the history of hockey and it took as much out of the Maroons as it did out of us.” On the other side of the bench, Montreal’s coach, Tommy Gorman noted that, “it was a crime for either team to lose last night.”

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Meanwhile, Maroons player Lionel Conacher dispelled the suggestion that the game should have been called off. “What the hell,” he said. “It just happens that hockey is played at night. No one would think of calling off a 27-inning ball game unless it was growing dark. So why call off a hockey game? Play the thing until somebody wins like we did last night.” If anything, it was probably just as hard on the spectators who had drowsily watched the game to its conclusion, but even then, Conacher had no sympathy. “Just because some persons want to go home and go to bed is no reason why we should stop a hockey game,” he told the Detroit newspaper.

Despite the exhaustion felt on both sides, Adams was confident that the game had given his team the advantage in the series. “They [Montreal] are going to be just as tired tomorrow night as the Red Wings. More, I would say, because they have not had the stimulus of victory to revive them,” he said in the Free Press.

His words proved to be prophetic. Normie Smith picked up right where he left off, as Detroit shutout Montreal in the next game, to take a commanding lead in the series. Before the third, and decisive, game, the Red Wings paid a visit to Stanley Cup and vowed they’d be bringing the trophy back to Detroit.

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Although they may have been tempting fate, considering they had not yet advanced to the Final, it was clear the club was now brimming with optimism. Sure enough, they defeated Montreal and went on to face the Maple Leafs for the rights to Lord Stanley’s mug.

After four hard fought games, the Red Wings made good on their promise, and had secured the franchise’s first Stanley Cup. The club’s victory was not only a significant moment on the ice, it also capped off an incredible run of championships in the city that year, as Detroit rightfully earned the moniker as the “City of Champions.”

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Looking back on that memorable game the Red Wings played, 81 years ago tonight, it’s clear that it had a galvanizing impact, and was undoubtedly a catalyst for the team’s historic run.

Moving forward, it seems likely that Detroit’s marathon matchup with the Maroons will stand the test of time. In the last decade, there have been only two postseason games that have gone beyond three overtime periods.

That being said, we don’t have to go too far back to see that monster games are still within the realm of possibility. Just two weeks ago, the Storhamar Dragons and the Sparta Warriors of the Norwegian GET-ligaen battled through eight overtime periods to record what is believed to be the longest game in hockey history.

Not to mention that, when it comes to the playoffs, anything can happen. Under the right circumstances, a seemingly routine game can become legendary, and role players can attain the rank of hero.

Such was the case with Modere Bruneteau. Prior to joining the Red Wings organization in 1934-35, he had been playing hockey in Manitoba, while working as a grain office clerk in Winnipeg. Two years later, he was playing in his first playoff series. Little did he know that, with just a single goal, he’d enshrine himself into hockey lore.