Quinnipiac Wins 2023 NCAA Men's Hockey Title

Quinnipiac University had waited 10 years to win a national title. So what was another 10 seconds?

Jacob Quillan scored just 10 seconds into overtime before 19,444 spectators on Saturday night at Amalie Arena in Tampa to lift second-ranked Quinnipiac to a 3-2 win over the top-ranked University of Minnesota in the 2023 NCAA Division I men's hockey national championship game. It was the first-ever NCAA title for the Bobcats, in their third try, while Minnesota (29-10-1 overall) was seeking its first national championship since 2003, and sixth all-time.

After Quinnipiac (34-4-3) won the opening face-off in the extra session, Zach Metsa passed the puck ahead to Sam Lipkin, who carried it down the right wing boards in the Minnesota zone. Lipkin backhanded a pass through the slot to Quillan, who took the feed, cut to his backhand, and slipped a shot past Golden Gophers netminder Justin Close to close out the game, the tournament, and the season for the victorious Bobcats, who began play as a Division I school in 1999-2000. They have since made nine NCAA tournaments at that level, and were previously the national runner-up in both 2013 and 2016.

The Bobcats had to battle back from a two-goal deficit Saturday to get the job done. John Mittelstadt shoveled home a loose puck in front of Quinnipiac's net for the only goal of the first period, and then Jaxon Nelson chipped in a rebound off the backboards early in the second stanza to put the Golden Gophers up, 2-0. Cristophe Tellier would then get Quinnipiac back within a goal before the end of the middle period, off an assist by Metsa. 

With less than three minutes remaining in regulation, and goaltender Yaniv Perets pulled for a sixth attacker, Union College transfer Collin Graf pulled Quinnipiac into a tie with his shot from the left circle that glanced off of Close and found the back of the Minnesota net, just after a Bobcats power play had expired, off assists from Metsa and Lipkin. That set the stage for Quillan's overtime heroics, and the biggest victory in the history of Quinnipiac's program. 

Quinnipiac outshot Minnesota on the night, 30-15, with Perets making 13 saves for the Bobcats, and Close finishing with 27 stops for the Golden Gophers. Quinnipiac also became the first ECAC Hockey team to win a men's national title since Union in 2014, and went 3-0 versus Big Ten schools in this year's championship, defeating Ohio State, Michigan and Minnesota in consecutive contests on the way to the crown. The win was also the 615th overall in the career of Bobcats head coach Rand Pecknold, all of them at Quinnipiac, since he first took the helm in 1994-95. 

Next year's NCAA Frozen Four will be held in St. Paul, Minnesota.