For God For Hockey and For Yale

15.5 seconds remained in the second period. At center ice, Yale's Clinton Bourbonais banged his stick against the ice several times as he waited for the face-off. Just a few minutes earlier, Bourbonais had taken a bad penalty, giving opposing Quinnipiac an extended two-man advantage. But Yale had survived it unscathed, and looking toward center ice, I smiled. Bourbonais looked ready.

Despite an almost frenetic pace, including extended two-man advantages for each team, and nearly 50 total shots on goal, the National Championship game between Yale and Quinnipiac had yet to produce a goal.

Bourbonais won the face-off. Yale's defense played the puck in to the Quinnipiac end. I allowed myself a brief sigh of relief. Yale appeared to be feeling the effects of the game's pace, and the puck being down in the other end meant there wouldn't be any late bad surprises; it'd be no worse than tied going in to the third period.

The puck came to Quinnipiac's All-American goaltender Eric Hartzell with 8 seconds left. He could have simply given it to one of his defensemen to run out the clock, but, maybe he saw Bourbonais coming in fast, so he casually played it around the boards... where Yale's Gus Young, pinching in from the left point, intercepted it. Young shot it back toward the net. Bourbonais was now camped out in front of the net, and he deflected it...

Jeff Malcolm stopped Jordan Samuels-Thomas to keep it scoreless.

Yale. National Champions.
In the same line.
Can it be?

National TV audience. News coverage in the major papers. A packed house at Pittsburgh's Consol Energy Center. And, oh yes, it was my birthday. Can this be real? Any of this? We're talking about Yale here. YALE!!! A non-scholarship Ivy League School that still boasts about its football championships... in the 19th century. When we play teams that give out athletic scholarships, we're supposed to lose, that's what everyone thinks!

We were supposed to lose to Minnesota, we were supposed to lose to North Dakota, we were supposed to lose to University of Massachusetts-Lowell. They were all supposed to be bigger and stronger and have better goaltenders. We were supposed to lose, and it wasn't supposed to be close. Heck, we weren't even supposed to be represented in this tournament; we needed help from Notre Dame and, ironically, UMass-Lowell after our own season ended, just to get in.

But, come the tournament... Yale didn't lose. Yale played smart, disciplined, even inspired hockey. They beat Minnesota and North Dakota in the regional. Then they outshot UMass-Lowell 23-3 over the final two periods of their overtime win in the semi-final, capped off by a brilliant goal by team captain Andrew Miller. Still, Yale was supposed to lose to #1 Quinnipiac this night.

Just as fast as Bourbonais deflected that shot, the entirety of the Yale sections seemed to realize as one: We are one period away from a National Championship!! Impossible!! Unreal!!! Don't pinch us, we don't want to wake up from this dream.

In the front of the Yale section, a man wearing a #9 jersey of former Yale captain Brian O'Neill said, "Quinnipiac is going to get desperate, we're going to get some odd man rushes, and it'll be 3-0!" Mostly, we buzzed with nervous anticipation. Elianna bounced in her seat: "This is soooo exciting!"

Early in the third period, Bourbonais passed up the left wing to fellow freshman Charles Orzetti (these guys are freshmen???). It was the end of a shift, and Bourbonais went to the bench as soon as his pass connected. Orzetti carried in, and fired a shot on Hartzell. The rebound came right back to Orzetti, so he shot again, from an angle that was beyond impossible: 2-0. Chants of "It's All Your Fault!!" rained down on Hartzell. In the stands, grown men and women who had never met, were embracing.

Several minutes later, Yale's all-universe and freakishly boyish-looking winger Kenny Agostino sprang Miller loose on a breakaway. Miller's wikipedia page says he is "never going to be that great of a hockey player." Let's amend that: He's never going to be that great of a hockey player... for a Frozen Four MVP!!!

Andrew Miller's breakaway goal put the game out of reach at 3-0.

The only question remaining was whether this national championship game would include a shutout by Yale's Jeff Malcolm on his birthday. The Yale side chanted his name, and serenaded him with several choruses of "Happy Birthday" (yeah, I knew they weren't singing for me, but Elianna loved it). In addition, chants were added about that other school, e.g., "Harvard Sucks!," and something about the night club "Toad's Place." I'd never even heard of Quinnipiac while I was at Yale; now all ESPN wanted to talk about was how Yale and Quinnipiac are suddenly fierce rivals. And maybe they will be. But not on this night.

During a 4-on-4, Quinnipiac pulled Hartzell to get an extra skater. A few seconds later, Pittsburgh native Jesse Root, who'd scored the amazing overtime goal against Minnesota, got an easy one. 4-0. Malcolm got his birthday shutout, in the finest performance of his career. Impossible became reality.

In the hotel lobby an hour after the game -- before I realized that we were staying at the team's hotel, but after I figured out that I could buy championship souvenirs there -- the band gathered. Yale's football prowess over a century ago helped lead to an array of first rate fight songs that today are mostly heard when played by bands from Oklahoma and Tennessee. Songs like Down the Field and Bulldog. Tonight, we'd reclaimed them on a national broadcast. And, finally, in this small space, a song I'd played after wins (and losses) against Harvard and solemn occasions, but never got to sing quite like this: Bright College Years. I used a paper hockey helmet instead of a handkerchief.

In a world sometimes gone wrong (especially now, as we collectively try to make sense of events at the Boston Marathon not even 48 hours later), it was the perfect dream. Don't wake me.

The champions salute their fans.

The YPMB, saluting all that is good and right in the world.