0:00.1

That's the margin that held the Spokane Chiefs and Tri-City Americans going to overtime for the second game in a row saturday.

Game Recap

It's been three days and I'm still shaking my head - I'm sure I don't recall many plays as bang-bang as that, and certainly not just as the clock struck 0:00.0.  TV replays slowed down showed that as the green "game over" light came on, the puck was not yet in the net.  The puck crossed the line four frames of video later.  There are 30 frames per second, so the elapsed time of .13333 seconds provided the whisker-thin margin.

Oddly, in our house, the least affected by the whole thing was probably the Chiefs-lovingest 8-year old who doesn't care for it when we boo the officials (they're doing their best), and sees no conflict in rooting for Tri (they're the second-closest team, dontchaknow?).  While the grownups were intently watching full-speed replays in  which clearly the puck was in before the horn sounded, he was only interested in the final result - no goal, series tied at 2.

Thunder Always Comes After Lightning

I guess that's why there are two systems, the horn being the loud obvious intruder, announcing that TIME HAS EXPIRED!  Meanwhile this little unobtrusive light, sitting behind the glass, is the official arbiter.  Light travelling faster than sound means a horn blasting at the same time will actually reach your ears after the light has registered to your eyes.

Game three is tomorrow and it's on TV.  Grab some popcorn.