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The Quinnipiac Bobcats were crowned the sixth champions of the Harness Friendship Four tournament in Belfast last weekend, bringing two action-packed days of NCAA ice hockey to a close.

Four top US college hockey teams - UMass Lowell River Hawks, Massachusetts Minutemen (UMass), Quinnipiac Bobcats and Dartmouth Big Green – battled it out for the coveted Belpot Trophy in Belfast.

The first game on Friday, attended by thousands of schoolchildren from across Belfast, pitted the Quinnipiac Bobcats against the UMass Lowell River Hawks, with the Bobcats claiming a comfortable 5-2 win.

The next game was a battle between two UMass schools, with the Massachusetts Minutemen facing off against rivals, the UMass Lowell River Hawks. Two goals from freshman Kenny Connors helped UMass advance to the Belpot Championship game, securing a 2-1 victory over UMass Lowell.

Quinnipac Bobcats captain Zach Metsa lifts the coveted Belpot trophy after defeating Massachusetts Minutemen in Saturday’s Friendship Four Final at The SSE Arena, Belfast. Photo by William Cherry/Presseye

Saturday’s consolation game had all the energy and pace of a final, with the UMass LowellRiver Hawks overturning a three-goal deficit to take third place, clinching a 4-3 victory over Dartmouth Big Green in an overtime thriller.

There was an electric atmosphere in a packed SSE Arena, Belfast for the nail-biting final between the Quinnipiac Bobcats and the Massachusetts Minutemen. With the game tied 2-2 at full time, and the scoreboard unchanged after five minutes of overtime, it was a showdown of goaltenders that decided the fate of this year’s Belpot. In a best-of-three shootout where Quinnipiac’s Cristophe Teller netted the only goal, a jaw-dropping save from Yaniv Perets sealed the deal for the Bobcats.

Quinnipiac Bobcats claim the Belpot Trophy