Yale wins national hockey championship

PITTSBURGH -- The other goalie was the Hobey Baker Award finalist, but Yale's Jeff Malcolm will go home to Connecticut with the hardware everyone wanted: the NCAA championship trophy.

Malcolm made a few ridiculous saves while the game was scoreless, and a goal late in the second sparked the Bulldogs to a 4-0 win over Quinnipiac at Consol Energy Center and their first NCAA men's hockey championship.

"You could tell right from the start he was feeling it. He was seeing shots, moving well," Bulldogs senior defenseman Colin Dueck said. "In the second period, he made a pretty good short-breakaway stop. We knew at that point he was closing the door."

Yale, the last team to qualify for the 16-team NCAA tournament -- OK, as captain Andrew Miller said, they were the 15th seed, but the 16th was automatic-qualifier Canisius -- was the last team left standing.

The Bulldogs (22-12-3) knocked off three No. 1 seeds, including overall No. 1 Quinnipiac (30-8-5), who'd won three previous meetings this season.

"For the season, I thought we were the best team in college hockey," Bobcats coach Rand Pecknold said. "Unfortunately, we didn't prove it tonight."

Malcolm was less heralded than several of the goalies he faced, including Quinnipiac's Hobey Baker finalist, Eric Hartzell. But the Yale senior made 36 saves on his 24th birthday, including that short breakaway by Matthew Peca and another stop on Quinnipiac's clutch Jordan Samuels-Thomas.

Yale goalie Jeff Malcolm (33) is swarmed by teammates after shutting out Quinnipiac 4-0 to win the NCAA men's college hockey Frozen Four national championship game in Pittsburgh, Saturday, April 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Gene Puskar) less Yale goalie Jeff Malcolm (33) is swarmed by teammates after shutting out Quinnipiac 4-0 to win the NCAA men's college hockey Frozen Four national championship game in Pittsburgh, Saturday, April 13, 2013. (AP ... more Image 1 of / 38 Caption Close Yale wins national hockey championship 1 / 38 Back to Gallery

"I had to come out and challenge," Malcolm said. "He made a couple of moves in front of the net. I bit to my glove side, spread out and made the save with the blocker."

The Bulldogs hadn't won a men's team national championship since 1953, a swimming and diving title. An Ivy League team hadn't won since Harvard in 1989; either team would've been the first ECAC champion since then.

And it could have been either until the final seconds of the second period. Hartzell went behind the net to backhand along a Yale dump-in. Gus Young pinched a bit up the left-wing boards to keep it in.

"We've been preaching getting pucks and bodies to the front of the net," Young said.

Junior Clinton Bourbonais deflected Young's shot through Hartzell's legs with 3.5 seconds left in the period.

"It was a weird shot to begin with, bouncy. It was going to my left pad," Hartzell said. "He made a nice tip, a nice goal. Give him credit."

Yale made it 2-0 at 3:35 of the third. Charles Orzetti fired his own rebound under Hartzell's right pad.

"My pad was flat on the ice," Hartzell said. "I wouldn't play it any differently. The only thing I didn't do was stop it. It just went under my pad. When you wear a set of pads for a full year, they become like pillows, and he obviously shot hard enough."

Bulldogs captain Andrew Miller scored at 9:06 on a breakaway to make it 3-0, then set up Jesse Root's empty-netter for his school-record 114th assist.

Seven minutes later, he and the rest of his teammates completed some more school history.

mfornabaio@ctpost.com; http://twitter.com/fornabaioctp; http://blog.connpost.com/fornabaio

3 stars

1. JEFF MALCOLM, YALE: Goalie had an incredible night on the biggest stage.

2. CLINTON BOURBONAIS, YALE: Tipped home the opening goal; assisted on the second.

3. ANDREW MILLER, YALE: Captain put it away.

UNSUNG HERO: Gus Young blocked some early shots and intercepted the clearing pass that led to Bourbonais' goal.

-- MICHAEL FORNABAIO

YALE.............................................. 0 1 3 --4

QUINNIPIAC...................................0 0 0 -- 0

First Period -- No scoring. Penalties -- O'Gara, Y (elbowing), 2:41; Hibbeler, Q (interference), 4:51; Dueck, Y (tripping), 7:48; Dalhuisen, Q (tripping), 15:23.

Second Period -- 1, Yale, Bourbonais 4 (Young), 19:56. Penalties -- Langlois, Q (roughing), 7:17; Yale bench, served Day (too many men), 10:28; Bourbonais, Y (charging), 11:25; Quinnipiac bench, served Goodman (too many men), 12:38; Davies, Q (goaltender interference), 13:25.

Third Period -- 2, Yale, Orzetti 2 (Bourbonais, Laganiere), 3:35. 3, Yale, Miller 18 (Agostino), 9:06. 4, Yale, Root 12 (Miller, O'Gara), 13:02 (en). Penalties -- Laganiere, Y (slashing), 11:37; St. Denis, Q (slashing), 11:37.

Shots on goal -- Yale 9-14-8--31. Quinnipiac 11-15-10--36.

Power play opportunities -- Yale 0 of 5, Quinnipiac 0 of 4.

Goaltenders -- Yale, Malcolm 20-6-2 (36 shots-36 saves). Quinnipiac, Hartzell 30-7-5 (30-27).

Attendance -- 18,184. Referees -- Jeff Bunyon, Kevin Shea. Linesmen -- Bob Bernard, Tom George.