TAMPA, Fla. — It may have taken an extra 10 seconds, but for Quinnipiac, it was worth every one of them.
After rallying late from 2-0 down and scoring an extra-attacker goal late in the third period to force overtime, Quinnipiac needed just 10 seconds in the extra session as forward Jacob Quillan took a perfect feed from Sam Lipkin, went in alone on Minnesota goaltender Justen Close and buried the puck around the netminder to give the Bobcats a 3-2 victory and the program’s first national championship.
The goal came on a set play off the center-ice draw, with Quillan winning the puck back to Zach Metsa. Metsa hit Lipkin in stride with Quillan streaking to the net.
Minnesota held a 2-1 lead heading to the third period but the final frame was dominated by Quinnipiac, which outshot Minnesota 14-2.
A penalty with 4:52 remaining to Minnesota’s Logan Cooley for high sticking sent Quinnipiac to its second power play of the game. With 36 seconds remaining on the power play, Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold called his timeout and pulled Perets for the extra attacker.
Seconds after the penalty expired, Collin Graf’s shot seemed to confuse Close, beating him five-hole to even the score at 2-2 and force overtime.
The game began with a frenzy. It took just 21 seconds for Quinnipiac, the nation’s least penalized team, to find itself short-handed after Skyler Brind’Amour laid a hard hit on Minnesota’s Mike Koster. The hit was reviewed for a potential major before it was determined the hit was indirect contact to the head, resulting in just a minor penalty.
Minnesota couldn’t capitalize but got some early momentum off the power play and minutes later scored.
Connor Kurth picked off an errant pass from Jayden Lee, skated around the net pulling goaltender Yaniv Perets out of position. Kurth centered the puck to John Mittlestadt, who buried it into the gaping net at 5:35.
In the second, Minnesota extended its lead on a set play off an offensive-zone draw. Center Jaxon Nelson won the draw back to Brock Faber and immediately headed to the net. Faber intentionally shot the puck wide on Perets’ glove side, and when the puck ricocheted off the kick plate, Nelson was ready to fire it into the empty net at 4:24.
Quinnipiac was desperate for a response and, less than four minutes later, got one. Metsa picked off a puck at the offensive blue line, skated down low and centered a perfect pass through the goal mouth to Cristophe Tellier, who made the perfect redirect inside the left post at 7:41.
The Bobcats controlled the period, holding an 11-6 advantage in shots, but still trailed 2-1 entering the third.