'It felt like it was never gonna end': Cape Breton Eagles extend season in 5th overtime

Vernon Ramesar · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 05, 2025 4:10 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

It was a marathon league for players and spectators successful Sydney connected Friday nighttime but the Cape Breton Eagles yet triumphed 3-2 implicit the Baie-Comeau Drakkar.

It was the second-longest game successful Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League history.

Game 5 of their first-round playoff bid astatine Centre 200 started astatine 7:04 p.m. and ended astatine 1:22 a.m. erstwhile Angelo Fullerton scored 1:42 into the 5th overtime period.

Speaking connected Saturday, Fullerton said helium was sore and exhausted but it was a peculiar extremity successful his hockey career.

"It was a agelong night, but it was a batch of fun, particularly getting to bash that with all my friends," helium said.

Fullerton said helium has ne'er been connected the crystal that agelong earlier and the situation for the squad was keeping its energy up throughout.

He said cipher connected the squad wanted to spell location truthful aboriginal successful the season. The Eagles began the nighttime trailing the Drakkar 3-1 successful the best-of-seven series.

Looking astatine his teammates during the crippled and wanting to combat for them kept him going, Fullerton said.

With 2 disallowed goals for Baie-Comeau and 1 for the Eagles, Fullerton said determination were points erstwhile "it felt like it was ne'er gonna end." 

But helium said the players kept pushing due to the fact that they had thing to suffer astatine that point. 

For diehard Eagles fans similar Matthew Briggs, the crippled was an affectional roller-coaster that seemed to spell connected for an eternity.

He said he's seen hundreds of hockey games successful his beingness but ne'er 1 similar helium saw connected Friday.

He said astatine definite points during the crippled helium had to inquire his friends what overtime they were in.

"Are we successful the eighth? Are we successful the ninth period? We conscionable mislaid way of time. That's however agelong the crippled was," Briggs said.

Briggs thought the crippled was implicit a fewer times successful overtime. He near the arena, lone to find that goals were disallowed. He stayed until the extremity aft that.

Eagles caput manager Louis Robitaille said helium is arrogant of the team.

He said immoderate members of the squad were successful tears during the crippled reasoning their play was implicit and that their inferior vocation was over.

But they were capable to bounce back, helium said, and showed resiliency and pride. 

"That's what volition instrumentality with maine forever," Robitaille said.

He said the players were adjacent sharper by the extremity of the crippled past they were during the 2nd period.

Robitaille credits the fans for being a large portion of the occurrence of the team.

"The enactment has been incredible," helium said.

"The players did it for them, did it for the full land that we're arrogant to beryllium Cape Bretoners. To spot the joyousness aft that crippled yesterday, it's thing unbelievable."

The bid shifts to Baie-Comeau for Game 6 connected Monday. Game 7, if necessary, would beryllium Tuesday.