Canadian goalie saves 86 shots—49 in five overtimes—and still loses

Gotta tighten up that defense.

Cole McLaren really got hung out to dry by his defense on Monday night. 

McLaren’s Valley Wildcats played Halifax McDonald’s in an outrageous Nova Scotia Major Midget Hockey League playoff game. The marathon lasted more than five hours—137 minutes of actual hockey—and required five overtimes to decide a winner. 

It probably would have ended sooner if not for McLaren, who made an astonishing 86 saves in goal, including 49 in the overtime periods. 

“In the moment you say to yourself, ‘That’s just another save,’” McLaren told the CBC. “But then you look up at the score clock and it says you've made 74 saves and you’re in quadruple overtime.”

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McLaren let in just two shots, the last of which was a slap shot through traffic from the blue line. His counterpart stopped 59 of the 60 shots he faced. 

McLaren, an eighth-round draft pick by the Halifax Mooseheads major junior team, will have to be in top form again on Tuesday night. His team is facing elimination in Game 5 of the seven-game series.