Denver Edges out Minnesota Duluth to Win 2017 NCAA Hockey Championship

The Denver Pioneers beat the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs 3-2 to claim the 2017 NCAA national championship Saturday night in the United Center in Chicago.

Jarid Lukosevicius supplied the offense, scoring all three goals for Denver, and Tanner Jaillet provided the defense, making 38 saves. After his impressive performance, Jaillet was justifiably excited about the victory, per CBS Denver's Mark Haas:

Denver Athletics shared a video of fans counting down the final seconds before the game ended:

The Denver Broncos saluted their Mile High City brethren:

The first period came and went with neither team breaking a scoreless deadlock. Then, in a 16-second span, Lukosevicius gave Denver a 2-0 lead at the five-minute mark of the second period.

With 4:44 elapsed in the period, Lukosevicius deflected a wrist shot by Michael Davies, giving Bulldogs goaltender Hunter Miska no time to react to the puck. NCAA Ice Hockey provided a replay of the opening goal:

Not even a half-minute later, Lukosevicius doubled Denver's lead. The sophomore forward poked the puck into an empty net following Troy Terry's great pass.

Alex Iafallo stopped the bleeding for Minnesota Duluth with a goal at the 7:16 mark, but Lukosevicius made it a 3-1 game after completing his hat trick 12:23 into the second period, via NCAA Ice Hockey:

Aaron Matas of 9News in Denver reacted to the achievement:

Chris Long of KSTP in St. Paul, Minnesota, noted the connection between Lukosevicius and the last person to score a hat trick in the national championship:

The third period got off to a rough start for the Pioneers after defenseman Tariq Hammond was checked awkwardly into the boards and suffered what appeared to be a leg injury. Medical staff stretchered him off the ice.

KSTP's Tom Hauser shared photos of Hammond's teammates gathering around him and the junior exiting the playing surface:

Down two goals, Minnesota Duluth had little choice but to throw everything at Denver in the final period to try to tie the game. Losing a talented defenseman such as Hammond also left the Pioneers vulnerable.

Luckily for Denver, Jaillet repelled the Bulldogs' attacks for much of the third frame. The Pioneers provided a visual estimation of Jaillet's third-period performance:

But the junior goaltender was unable to prevent Riley Tufte from bringing Minnesota Duluth to within a goal, 3-2, at the 14:39 mark of the third period. Avery Peterson's shot caromed off the post, and Tufte pounced on the rebound.

That set up a frenzied final five minutes as Minnesota Duluth looked for a third goal. In the final seconds, Joey Anderson had one last chance to push the game to overtime. Jaillet got down to make the save, and Dominic Toninato couldn't react quickly enough to knock home the midair rebound.

This is Denver's first national title since going back-to-back in 2004 and 2005 and the school's eighth all time. According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Pioneers are tied with the North Dakota Fighting Hawks for the second-most championships, and they both trail the Michigan Wolverines by one.