You can either user STR_TO_DATE function and pass your own date parameters based on the format you have posted :
select * from hockey_stats where game_date
between STR_TO_DATE('11/3/2012 00:00:00', '%c/%e/%Y %H:%i:%s')
and STR_TO_DATE('11/5/2012 23:59:00', '%c/%e/%Y %H:%i:%s')
order by game_date desc;
Or just use the format which MySQL handles dates YYYY:MM:DD HH:mm:SS and have the query as
select * from hockey_stats where game_date between '2012-03-11 00:00:00' and'2012-05-11 23:59:00' order by game_date desc;