By: MJ Baird
TAMPA – In a battle that featured the top two teams in the nation all season long, North Dakota defeated Quinnipiac by a final score of 5-1 in the national championship game.
Quinnipiac (32-4-7, 16-1-5 ECAC) was searching for it’s first national title in program history, but fell short for the second time.
“They really came after us… I think it’s a combination of us not playing well and of North Dakota being really good,” head coach Rand Pecknold said after the game,
The Fighting Hawks (34-6-4, 19-4-1 NCHC) came out firing on all cylinders in the first period, and got ahead.
Shane Gersich put North Dakota on the board in the latter half of the period, tapping in a rebound. Garteig made the original save on a shot from Gage Ausmus at the point, but couldn’t corral the rebound and Gersich found the back of the open net beyond Gartieg’s outstretched pad.
Shortly thereafter Brock Boeser extended the North Dakota lead to two and added to the fighting hawks momentum with a short-handed goal.
A puck squirted loose into the Quinnipiac defensive zone and Garteig skated out to play the puck, but failed to clear. The Quinnipiac net-minder shot the puck into Boeser’s chest, who then slid it into the open net.
Garteig declined to comment on the play.
Before time expired in the first, the Bobcats found the scoreboard. Back to back cross-checking penalties by the Fighting Hawks allowed the Bobcats a 5-on-3. It took only three seconds of the two-man advantage for Quinnipiac to net a goal. Tim Clifton slapped home a one-timer from the faceoff dot assisted by his brother Connor.
“It was a beautiful faceoff. Great patience by Connor…but it would have been nice if we could have popped a few more in there,” Tim Clifton said.
However, the goal was the lone one of the game for the Bobcats.
“They (North Dakota) gave us a lot, and we just couldn’t handle it tonight. We didn’t play our best,” Pecknold said.
When play resumed in the second period the Bobcats had a 50 seconds worth of power play, but Cam Johnson kept North Dakota on top with a flurry of big saves to begin the period.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t pop one in and make it a 2-2 game going into the third,” Garteig said.
It took a breakaway save by Garteig in the middle of the frame to keep the game within one. After a Drake Caggiula penalty expired, he picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and went in alone on Garteig. Garteig repelled the puck, but the Bobcats couldn’t use the save as enough of a spark.
“I guess maybe after that save…maybe a little bit of momentum shift, but in reality I thought we had a really strong second”
It was the final 20 minutes that made the difference in the game. Three North Dakota goals in the final stanza took the life out of Quinnipiac.
“During the intermission we talked about keeping the foot on the gas. We came out and I think we put the gas full throttle there…We wanted to push back and make it as hard for them as possible,” Caggiula said post game.
The scoring began with Caggiula netting a one-timer just over a minute into the frame off a cross-ice feed from linemate Nick Schmaltz.
Caggiula scored again nearly three minutes later, banging home the unfinished work of a Brock Boeser partial breakaway broken up by Devon Toews.
Austin Poganski added his name to the score sheet at about the halfway mark of the third period to give North Dakota the four-goal cushion, where the game remained.
“The third period has to be their best period, and I believe that’s the whole team. It has to be our best period every game, whether we’re up or whether we’re down,” Ausmus said.
The third period was the best period for North Dakota, as it left Quinnipiac behind en route to it’s eighth national championship in program history.
Coach Brad Berry became the first rookie coach to win a national championship.
“I’m part of a special group and a special family here at North Dakota…it’s about these young men here in the locker room that put it on the line every night in a game,” Berry said.
For North Dakota, the program celebrates its first national championship since the year 2000.
For Quinnipiac, the program again falls one win shy of its first national championship.
