Quinnipiac finally brings me to the top of the mountain

As this is not a New York Rangers story, I am unlocking this for everyone regardless of tier. I went to Quinnipiac from 2006-2010. It's a great day to be a Bobcat!

There are two sports teams that touch me in a way that I lose sleep at night over their play: The New York Rangers and the Quinnipiac Bobcats. And last night, for the first time in my life where I can actually remember what happened, Rand Pecknold and the boys gave me my first ever championship as a sports fan.

They also gave me the greatest celebration in hockey history, capping off a ridiculous comeback in the best hockey game I've ever watched.

I have been lucky enough to go to hundreds of New York Rangers games in my lifetime, regular season and playoffs. Until Quinnipiac, I had never watched another team play competitive hockey in person. I went to Quinnipiac from 2006 to 2010. It feels like an eternity ago anyway, but in a way last night was a reminder of just how far the organization has truly come. One of my old roommates joked after the game that we've come a long way from Northford – which I'm betting most of you don't even know what I'm talking about.

When I was at school Quinnipiac was just sort of rising to national recognition. The team was ranked #5 in the country for a short stint in my sophomore year, and that national notice was intoxicating. There is something about being the scrappy underdog that's better than the recognition they're getting and fighting for relevance that truly galvanizes a sports community. There is something about beating teams with numbers in front of their names for the first time, for going to Ingalls to watch Quinnipiac take on Yale on the road when the home fans have to begrudgingly accept your presence. Travelling to national tournaments and people knowing who you are.

Joining the ECAC right before I got to school sort of proved that point of comradery too. The comments back in the day were Quinnipac was too dumb to play in the Ivy League of college hockey, that the banners of the opponents who hang at The Bank were as close as the Bobcats would ever come to their success.

No one makes that joke anymore.  

The team never – even today – had much in the way of superstar prospects who were drafted in the first round by NHL teams. The team only has a few NHL alumni; although that number is growing, and Devon Toews is a Stanley Cup Champion.

I mean, this is the tweet from the player who scored the game winning goal (and the greatest reply tweet of all time):

The Bobcats have always had Rand Pecknold, though.  

Pecknold has been on the national scene for almost a decade. He took Quinnipiac to two other national championships – a 2013 result we will never speak of again, and a loss to North Dakota three years later in 2016. Pecknold has always been right there, progressive beyond his years, and with the cojones to implement his plan regardless of what people think.

You may look back on his decision to pull the goalie with plenty of time on the clock down a goal this year in the National Championship Game and think it's impressive. It's more impressive when you remember he got burned doing the exact same thing against Michigan last year and he did it again anyway, only the stakes were so much higher when he pushed the chips into the middle of the table Saturday night.

I was thrilled when Pecknold got the World Juniors nod for team USA this year, an accomplishment that he's been owed for a very long time. The Bobcats have always a sum of the parts team, a system team that adjusts as Pecknold gets more information and just churns out results. Quinnipiac outworked you, and had the talent to back it up when needed when they got their openings. That structure and success can only come from the top, and Pecknold has been making magic consistently for years. These aren't flash in the pan runs, Quinnipiac has been a national force in NCAA hockey for a decade.

And Saturday night Quinnipiac made the "best team in the country" coming to the game their son, saucing high-end, first-round pick talent for 50 minutes and 10 seconds – including the most dominate 20 minutes of hockey I have ever seen in the third period of that game.

He's also the nicest guy in the world. And that's saying something since he's literally the face of Quinnipiac sports, bar none. The school has seen enormous women's basketball and women's hockey success on the national stage as well, but no one has reached the pinnacle (even before he won) the way Pecknold has. To keep himself grounded through such success – and pressure – is incredible. Especially when in the pre-game interview he talked about how much that 2013 NCAA run brought attention on the school in a way it never had before from admissions to recruits.

My wife played lacrosse at Quinnipiac and coached there after the fact. I met Pecknold once years ago and we talked for about two minutes, he will not remember a thing about me in what is a regular occurrence for him, but I remember how kind he was. You don't always get that from people of that ilk. In fact I'd wager more often than not you don't. And it shows just how close the hockey community is that all the alumni are the foundation of the team's support system every step of the way – whether they play in the NHL or otherwise. No one says a bad thing about the program. No one says a bad thing about Rand.

The sensations I felt after that game ended were insane. I was already in the Joe Fortunato Preparedness for Sports Disaster mode as the third period was winding down. Quinnipiac dominated that game after the first 10 minutes, and just didn't get anything to show for it. Then this happened (albeit, ugly but well deserved):

And then this happened:

And then Quinnipiac were National Champions. There is something so special about your first. I was six when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994, I remember nothing so it doesn't count. This was insane. The emotions, watching the replays, realizing what you're watching will never change, that the moment is etched in history forever, and no matter what happens ever no one can take that from you. I watch every angle of the goal I can find, the crowd's reaction, Rand's reaction, the team's, everything. Give me everything. I do this when my teams lose too but this time it isn't salting the wound to make sure it heals, this time it's burning the memory in my soul.

No one can take that from Pecknold, a man who literally – like, the actual use of the word literally – built that hockey team from nothing to NCAA Champions. There will never be another team like Quinnipiac because there will never be another Rand Pecknold.

And he is mine. And he is yours.

If your alma mater won a Natty on Saturday that is. And if not, no you can't have him.

Thank you for this, boys. I'll remember it for the rest of my life.