NCAA Hockey Championship 2016: UND vs. Quinnipiac Score and Twitter Reaction

The North Dakota Fighting Hawks became the college hockey national champions for the eighth time in program history thanks to their 5-1 win over the Quinnipiac Bobcats in the Frozen Four final Saturday night in Tampa, Florida.

North Dakota scored two goals in the first period and three more in the third, two by Drake Caggiula, to win its first title since 2000.

The team celebrated the win on Twitter:

Brad E. Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald tweeted the words North Dakota fans have been waiting 16 years to see:

NCAA Ice Hockey shared a GIF of the final seconds ticking down:

The game plan for North Dakota once the puck dropped was to establish pressure defensively and limit any offensive chances for Quinnipiac, per Nate Wells of SBN College Hockey:

A large contingent of North Dakota fans made the trip to Tampa to help the team out, per Mike McMahon of College Hockey News:

Paul Ryan of WFLA was in attendance to capture both teams taking the ice:

Despite the Fighting Hawks' best efforts to contain Quinnipiac, they couldn't capitalize offensively. Shots were at a minimum in the first period. 

After the two teams played in high-scoring affairs in the Frozen Four, North Dakota finally broke through on a Shane Gersich goal with just over nine minutes remaining in the first period, shared by NCAA Ice Hockey:

Just over two minutes later, Bobcats goalie Michael Garteig gifted Brock Boeser, fresh off a two-assist game, a short-handed goal, giving North Dakota a two-goal lead, via CJ Fogler of The Cauldron:

"

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"

Quinnipiac didn't show any signs of life offensively until a top-shelf goal by Tim Clifton with 1:07 left in the first period, per Quinnipiac Men's Ice Hockey:

Garteig's error was the difference heading into the second period. Both Garteig and North Dakota goalie Cam Johnson blanked their opposition in the second stanza, with the game remaining 2-1 heading into the final period.

It didn't take long before the scoring was back on track, and North Dakota put the game away for good thanks to Caggiula. He scored two goals in a little over two minutes to give the Fighting Hawks a three-goal lead early in the third period.

The first one came off a quick one-time pass by Nick Schmaltz, shared by Fogler:

"

Nick Schmaltz feeds Drake caggiula on the backdoor and UND leads Quinnipiac 3-1 pic.twitter.com/IY083jBXre

— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) April 10, 2016"

On the second, Caggiula came from out of nowhere and fired the puck into the back of the net, again shared by Fogler.

"

Drake Caggiula gets the feed from Boeser while trailing the play, UND now up 4-1 pic.twitter.com/1U9EqVFPDL

— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) April 10, 2016"

Austin Poganski provided the dagger with under 10 minutes remaining to make it a four-goal game. The team's Twitter account could feel the championship within its grasp:

Quinnipiac reached only its second Frozen Four final in program history and put together a stellar run toward the end. North Dakota was a high-powered offensive machine, and the Bobcats needed to play a perfect game to make it close.

It took 16 years for North Dakota to get back to the top of the college hockey world, but the tandem of Caggiula and Boeser carried the Fighting Hawks through the tournament and delivered an emphatic championship win.

Postgame Reaction

After being considered the hero for the second night in a row, Caggiula had to take in the moment and realize what he and his team had accomplished.

“It’s a special feeling,” Caggiula said, per UNDSports.com. He continued:

"

It's a special night not only for us, but for all the people that have put work into the program, all the guys that have played before us, all the coaches that came before us, and anyone that's helped build this program up to where it is now.

It's not just for this team, it's for all those people. It's for all those fans. It's a 16-year drought, but it's finally coming back to North Dakota.

"

North Dakota head coach Brad Berry also achieved a milestone with this win, becoming the first person ever to win a national championship in his first year as head coach.

“We openly talk about winning championships and trying to be the best that we can be every single day,” Berry said, per the aforementioned UNDSports.com article. “It's long overdue, and I'm glad finally we can do that. I'm glad we didn't disappoint our fans that were in the stands tonight. We had a whole slug of them there, and I'm glad we came through for them.”

Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said after the game North Dakota was "outstanding" and called them the most talented team in the country.

"I was really proud of our guys," Pecknold said, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "They competed all year long. Four losses in 43 games is phenomena. To do what we did this year was special. We overachieved so much [that] we achieved."