The Fall And Rise Of Overtime In The National Hockey League

We take overtime for granted in the National Hockey League. We shouldn’t.

For 41 years – starting with the advent of Uncle Sam’s entry into World War II – there was no overtime to settle NHL games.

“It was stopped,” remembered Rangers manager Frank Boucher, “because in those wartime days we all travelled by train and the railroads were moving troops all the time. That made our NHL scheduling harder to work. So the league halted OT.”

When the war ended, the extra session could have been restored but the NHL moguls chose to stay with the status quo. The fans didn’t like that, nor did the press guys.

Typical was a story in the New York Journal-American by Rangers beat writer Stan Saplin the day after a Blueshirt-Black Hawks game.

“Why couldn’t the Rangers and Black Hawks have played a 10-minute sudden death overtime period to settle their 2-2 deadlock in the Garden last night? Both had the time. Rangers have nothing to do ’til Saturday. Hawks didn’t leave town ’til 10 a.m. today.

The Rangers Games I’ll Never Forget, Sean McCaffrey Selects A Pair
Publisher of Blue Collar Blue Shirts, Sean McCaffrey has seen plenty of hockey over the decades. What’s surprising – at least in The Maven’s view – is that his choices are, shall we say, out of the box. 

“The fans would benefit if league legislation permitted extra sessions in such cases.”

Saplin’s plea was ignored. In fact the NHL did not restore overtime until June 23, 1983.

Now we take it for granted but when he wrote his column during the 1954-55 season, Stan Saplin never would have guessed that it would take 28 more years before league moguls were beginning to see the light re restoring the sudden-death period!