TAMPA, Fla. — Drake Caggiula scored his 24th and 25th goals of the season and Cam Johnson made 32 saves as North Dakota captured its first NCAA men’s ice hockey national championship since 2000 and its eighth overall.
North Dakota’s Brock Boeser made it 2-0 on a shorthanded goal when he was able to block a Quinnipiac clearing pass. Bobcats goalie Michael Garteig came way out of the net to sweep the puck away, but Boeser was able to knock down the puck with his stick blade and sent the eventual game-winner into a wide-open Quinnipiac net at 14:16 of the first period.
Brock Boeser puts UND up 2-0 by blocking a clearing attempt with his…hip pic.twitter.com/rXSbews2pk
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) April 10, 2016
After a scoreless second period, North Dakota took a 3-1 lead at 1:21 of the third when Nick Schmaltz fired a pass horizontally from the left wall to find Caggiula on the right side of the crease.
ROOFED! Drake Caggiula's 24th goal of the year is a sweet one! #FrozenFour pic.twitter.com/iCkC3pb1ay
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) April 10, 2016
Caggiula scored again at 3:41 to make it 4-1 after Quinnipiac defenseman Devon Toews pushed Boeser wide on a breakaway. Boeser was able to spin around Toews and sweep the puck back to the trailing Caggiula who was driving up the slot. Caggiula scored the goal-mouth tap-in low on the left side.
Austin Poganski then gave North Dakota a 5-1 lead on his 10th goal of the season as he roofed the puck over Garteig at 10:41 of the third period.
A late first-period power-play goal by Quinnipiac had cut the North Dakota lead to 2-1 when Tim Clifton roofed a one-timer on a 5-on-3 man advantage.
North Dakota Freshman Shane Gersich tallied his ninth goal of the season at 11:56 to make it 1-0 as he collected a rebound off the pad in of Garteig and went around the goalie to knock it home.
Announced attendance was 19,358, the third-largest championship game in NCAA men’s ice hockey history.
More coverage to come at USCHO.com.
