The collegiate winter sports season came to an offical end on Saturday night, as Jacob Quillan scored just 10 seconds into overtime to lead the #2 Quinnipiac Bobcats to their first ever Division I men’s ice hockey national championship with a 3-2 victory over #1 Minnesota at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Minnesota (29-10-1) went up 1-0 5:35 into the first period, taking advantage of a Quinnipiac turnover at their own blue line. Connor Kurth skated onto the miscue for the Golden Gophers, as Bobcats goalie Yaniv Perets came out to challenge. Kurth went behind the net and tried to tuck it in but wasn’t successful, but the loose puck came to freshman John Mittelstadt who did slam it into the cage. Jaxon Nelson made it 2-0 at the 4:24 mark of the second. A purposeful off the net shot by Brock Faber at the middle point found the stick of Nelson in the low slot, and Nelson neatly guided it over the shoulder of Perets. Quinnipiac got on the board for the first time 3:17 later, as a Zach Metsa pass from the bottom of the right faceoff circle found Christophe Tellier who directed it past Minnesota goaltender Justen Close. The Gophers still held that 2-1 lead after two periods, and were 22-0-0 entering the night when holding an advantage after 40 minutes on the season. QU (34-4-2) had other thoughts though, and would dominate play over the latter stages of the second and into the third where they held their opponents to just two shots on goal. The persistence paid off late in the game. Already up a man after a penalty for high sticking was called on Minnesota with 4:52 left, they would pull Perets with 3:28 remaining for a 6 on 4 advantage. They weren’t able to convert on the 6 on 4, but with Perets still on the bench and on a 6 on 5 a shot by Collin Graf from the edge of the left faceoff circle found its way through the pads of Close with 2:47 showing on the clock that would send the game to overtime. After a faceoff win in the extra session, Sam Lipkin sent a pass up to Metsa at the Minnesota blue line and Metsa skated into the zone and to the outside of the right circle where he fired a quick pass across to a streaking Quillan who deeked from left to right and easily around Close to slide it into a half empty net to give the Bobcats the title.
Metsa assisted on all three goals in the win, including the key one to set up the overtime goal. Lipkin had two helpers, while Perets made 13 saves. Close made 27 stops in the loss for Minnesota, who was seeking their sixth national title and first since 2003. Both teams went 0-2 on the powerplay. Quinnipiac, who only became a Division I program in 1999, was playing in their third championship game. The Bobcats lost in 2013 and 2016 to Yale and North Dakota respectively. Rand Pecknold, who is in his 29th season as the head coach, owns an overall record of 615-337-103 at the school. QU since the start of the 2012-13 season has gone 278-107-42, and have appeared in eight NCAA Tournaments and three national title games with now one title. The 34 wins this season is also a program record.
Recap by Chris Lessner
