Fresh back from a winter break, Germany’s top women’s ice hockey league set a world record with a 54-round shootout between the Memmingen Indians and EC Bergkamen. The lengthy shootout came on the heels of a late-game rally by Memmingen to tie the game and wound up taking a full 30 minutes just for the shootout.
Bergkamen went up 3-1 with 4:43 left in the game before goals from German national team forward Nicola Eisenchmid and Kaitlyn Keon set the stage for the Bundesliga teams to become record holders.
Throughout the shootout Bergkamen had a response each time it looked like Memmingen would finally end the shootout. Each goaltender had allowed just three goals by the team 21-year-old national team player Julia Seitz took the ice, potting what would become the game-winner for the Indians.
“We started to become inpatient on the players’ bench because we desperately wanted to win the game. Once I was on the ice I thought I have to make it so that the game would have an end. I blanked out my original plan on how to shoot and decided spontaneously,” Seitz told Eishockey News, translated via the IIHF website.
“But after the win it was a nice feeling to become record holders. It’s also great for women’s hockey,” Seitz added.
As the IIHF notes, Bundaliga teams play back-to-back games, so the two teams had to play a good deal of bonus hockey and then turn around and do it again the next day.
The January 23 game took the record from a 42-round shootout that also took place in a German league. In this instance it was a match in Germany’s top men’s league between the Straubing Tigers and EHC Munchen in November 2010.
