PITTSBURGH — Yale captain Andrew Miller stopped a reporter when he asked what it felt like to be the final school to make the 16-team field when the NCAA hockey tournament began.
Actually, we were the 15th seed,” Miller said.
And ultimately, the last one standing.
Miller capped his brilliant career with a breakaway goal in the third period, Jeff Malcolm stopped all 36 Quinnipiac shots and the Bulldogs won their first NCAA championship with a 4-0 victory last night.
It was sweet revenge for Yale (22-12-3), which lost the three previous meetings with the top-seeded Bobcats by a combined 13-3. The nation’s oldest hockey program, however, left no doubt in the final, riding the play of Malcolm and some unlikely offensive contributions to capture a title 117 years in the making.
“Tonight was our turn,” Yale coach Keith Allain said.
The Bulldogs have been playing hockey since 1896 but had only made the tournament twice before Allain took over in 2006. The Yale graduate accepted the job with the promise from his bosses the school would do what it takes to be competitive. In seven seasons he guided the Bulldogs all the way to the top.
“I came back to prove you could go to the best university in the world and prove you can play hockey at the highest level,” Allain said.
Yale did it throughout the tournament, knocking off three No. 1 seeds, including its Connecticut rivals from just down the street. Quinnipiac (30-8-5) — located less than 10 miles from the Yale campus — spent most of the year ranked No. 1.
The Bobcats (30-8-5) hardly looked like it after Yale’s Clint Bourbonais redirected a shot between goalie Eric Hartzell’s legs with four seconds left in the second period and freshman Charles Orzetti scored his first goal in four months 3:35 into the third to make it 2-0.
Miller, the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, then broke loose and flipped a backhand by Hartzell for his 18th goal of the season. Pittsburgh native Jesse Root added an empty netter.
Hartzell stopped 27 shots, but the Hobey Baker finalist let in a couple of soft goals.
“I thought we were the best team in college hockey for the season,” Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t prove it tonight.”