The Minnesota Wilderness clinched the North American Hockey League Robertson Cup championship Saturday with a 4-0 win over the Austin Bruins in a game that began about 18 hours and a half after the Wilderness beat the Bruins 2-1 in a four-overtime marathon in Austin the night before to begin the best-of-three series.

“It’s a pretty special feeling to finally win this, to do it in my last year in the (NAHL) after five years,” Wilderness goaltender Brock Kautz said to the Rochester Post Bulletin. “It’s incredible.”

The NAHL title is not only a first for the Wilderness - who just began playing in the Tier II junior league last season - but the first NAHL title for any team from Minnesota.

Saturday was the 10th consecutive playoff win - seven of which were on the road - for the Wilderness dating back to April 11 and the first playoff shutout recorded by Kautz. He made 26 saves in the series-clinching Game 2 win Saturday after stopping 47 of 48 shots in Game 1 on Friday.

“I just tried to do everything I could, make the first save and make the saves I needed to,” Kautz told the Post Bulletin. "Our team was playing really well coming in and I knew they'd back me up. They stood up for me all year, I just tried to do my part."

Ian Mansfield broke a 0-0 tie in Game 2 Saturday with four minutes remaining in the second period and Brett Heikkila scored two minutes later to give the Wilderness a 2-0 lead going into the third. Heikkila scored again with 3:36 remaining and Niklas Lehtimaki added an empty net insurance goal late.

Billy Exell’s goal at around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday morning capped the longest game in the 39-year history of the NAHL and gave the Wilderness a 1-0 lead in the series.

Exell scored the game-winning goal approximately five and a half hours after the 7:05 p.m. puck drop on Friday - or 13:03 into the fourth overtime period.

The Wilderness led 1-0 in Game 1 off a goal by Alex Toscano in the second period, but the Bruins tied the game with 4:30 left in the third period to force overtime.

The Bruins were involved last season in what was the second-longest game in NAHL history, which took place last season in the first round against Minot. The Bruins won that game at 16:57 of the third overtime.