“It's just a culmination of hard work the whole year and never giving up and fighting adversity and coming out a champion,” said Brian Cook, Waterloo head coach.

Waterloo traveled to Irvine for nationals despite not being a district champion, which is a typical qualifier. They didn’t even make the qualifying title game, having lost to Sioux City in the semifinals. But thanks to other teams being picked to go to other nationals, Waterloo received a ticket to Irvine.

Maybe that was the magical elixir that propelled the Warriors.

“It just proves that we were meant to be here,” said Maddox Harn, a senior captain and defenseman. “It just proves that we were made for this. Our team wasn't supposed to be done, and we got a second chance and we won.”

Dayton Niedert, Cale Buchan, Jagger Raisty, Shayn Hesse and Max Schuchman scored for Waterloo, while Tony Newton and Randall Roblyer had goals for Lincoln. Waterloo goaltender Andy Schell stopped 12 shots, while Lincoln’s Gavin Peery had 33.

Lincoln got the jump on Waterloo, with Newton scoring 5 minutes, 20 seconds into the game and Roblyer converting during a power play with 1:06 left in the first period. Niedert got Waterloo going on its comeback by scoring 7:34 into the second period, with Buchan tying things up with 4:59 left and Raisty putting the Warriors ahead 3-2 with 2:03 remaining in the period.

Hesse gave Waterloo breathing room just 3:05 into the third period and Schuchman iced the outcome with 1:50 to go.

“We were down early yesterday, too,” Warriors junior forward Logan Caldwell said of a 6-5 overtime win over the Steinbrenner Warriors in the quarterfinals. “We just keep fighting, positive energy, and we get one, and we just keep going from there.”

Added Cook: “We have been down a couple games in this tournament and we just kept believing in ourselves and working hard. Our conditioning paid off and we won a lot of our games in the third period.”

The comeback has been a theme not only of this tournament, but of the whole season. Waterloo lost its tournament opener to the Morgantown Mohawks.

“We started off slow, we had some injuries, but we just kept building and believing the rest of the year,” Cook said. “This tournament started off with a loss, but we came back with five victories, and we believed in ourselves and took home the hardware.”

Bouncing back all season was the reason why the Warriors didn’t panic down 2-0 in the national championship game.

“We just stuck with our game plan and everything just fell into place,” Harn said. “Jagger got a third, huge goal to put us up and from there, we didn't look back.”

The plane ride back will contain the only hardware the Warriors have won this season. No league title, no state title; they didn’t even win their group at nationals.

“It just means that we got to prove our point — just show who the Warriors are and just play Warriors hockey and show them that we can win,” Caldwell said.

But the Warriors did win a national championship, which is the only trophy they need.

“This is our first national title as a program and through my seniors’ group, for four years, we didn't win anything — not a state title or anything,” Harn said. “My freshman year, we went to nationals and we didn't win, we lost the semis. So, to come here and win this championship it's something else.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.