Quinnipiac wins title game
Quillan scores at 10 seconds of OT
Quinnipiac 3 Minnesota 2
TAMPA, Fla. — Looks like Connecticut needs to plan another parade.
On the same day the state honored the UConn men’s basketball team for its national championship, the Quinnipiac men’s hockey team defeated Minnesota, 3-2, in overtime at Amalie Arena Saturday night for the program’s first NCAA title.
The Bobcats won when Jacob Quillan scored 10 seconds into the extra session for the fastest overtime goal in a championship game. Quillan, who scored twice in the semifinal victory over Michigan, was named Most Outstanding Player of the Frozen Four.
That they were still playing was thanks in large part to Collin Graf of Lincoln, Mass.
It had been a frustrating tournament for the sophomore, who led the Bobcats with 20 goals and 38 assists but had failed to score in the postseason.
Until his team needed him the most.
With Quinnipiac (34-4-3) trailing, 2-1, and its goalie pulled, Graf beat Minnesota goalie Justen Close (27 saves) five-hole at 17:13 to even the score and send the game to overtime.
Graf said he was actually trying to get the puck to Skyler Brind’amour, but the shot went through and deflected in off Close’s right leg.
“It was unbelievable. It was everything,” Graf said. “We were really pressing . . . we just had to stick to the way we were playing, and if we did that, we knew we would come out on top.”
The four losses were the fewest for a national champion since Maine won the title in 1993 with a record of 421-2. Quinnipiac becomes the 23rd team to win a men’s Division 1 hockey championship, having lost title games in 2013 (to Yale) and 2016 (to North Dakota).
The Bobcats had been dominating the third period when coach Rand Pecknold called timeout and pulled goalie Yaniv Perets (13 saves) with 3:28 remaining in regulation for the extra skater and Quinnipiac on the power play. Minnesota killed the penalty, but Graf scored the equalizer five seconds after the Gophers returned to full strength.
It would not take long for Quinnipiac to complete the comeback.
Sam Lipkin set up the winning score, carrying the puck down the right side off the opening faceoff and sending it across the middle to Quillan, who beat his man to the post and brought back across the front, flipping it past Close.
Quinnipiac outshot Minnesota, 14-2, in the third period and 26-8 after the first.
Minnesota (29-10-1) appeared to be on the verge of ending a 20-year championship drought when it took a 2-1 lead into the third period.
Leading, 1-0, after the first period, the Gophers expanded their lead when captain Brock Faber sent in a shot from the point that caromed off the boards and back to the front of the net, where senior Jaxon Nelson used all of his 6-foot-4-inch, 225-pound frame to muscle his way into position down low and knock it past Perets at 4:24 of the second period.