The LU offense took a whopping 55 shots on goal.
 
They needed 56.
 
Withstanding an onslaught from two-time defending national champion Lindenwood University (Missouri) in the title matchup, the Grand Canyon University Roller team found 'quality over quantity' to their liking, outlasting the Lions, 2-1, in triple overtime to win the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association's Division 1 National Championship Saturday night in Auburn, Maine. It was the longest collegiate roller championship game ever, and it was the Lopes' second straight overtime victory for the Lopes after a power-play goal from Lopes' Team Captain Aydin Schwetz two minutes into OT defeated Bethel University (Tennessee), 2-1, in the semifinals four hours before the final to advance GCU to the title matchup. The championship game win also helped the Lopes avenge their only loss of the tournament to Lindenwood, 4-1, on Friday.
 
After outscoring their opponents in the 2022 and 2023 national title games by a combined score of 19-0, Lindenwood fully expected that their non-stop offense would similarly overwhelm the Lopes. That never happened. The Lopes had learned their lessons well from their previous matchup, and Lopes' goalie Maxim Currie was brilliant, allowing a Christian Acosta power-play goal midway through the first period, then swatting away the other 54 Lindenwood shots in his 63 minutes in net.
 
"Maxim 'stood on his head' the entire tournament, and had the performance of a lifetime," said Schwetz. "He didn't play a ton this season due to injuries and was tabbed for almost the entirety of nationals because one of our other goalies, Jay Pacheco, stepped into a skater role because we had lost another player."
 
Meanwhile, after committing two penalties and managing just three shots on goal in the first period, the Lopes shored things up in the second, tying the game midway through the period by cashing in a power-play opportunity of their own with Schwetz setting up Brydon Frisk.
 
From there, the frustration grew on the Lions' sideline. 13 shots in the 3^rd period. Nine in the first overtime. A whopping 14 in the second OT. All to no avail. Nothing flustered Currie or the Lopes' defense.
 
Finally in the 3^rd minute of the third extra session, GCU junior Nick Ettelbrick sprinted towards the left side of the Lions' net, drawing Lions' defender Parker Winkelman with them. Winkelman deflected the puck, but it went right to GCU's Dylan Guy a few feet behind Ettelbrick, who swooped in and fired it past the right shoulder of LU goalie Marky Hager for the gamewinner. The exhausted Lopes still had plenty of energy left to mob Guy and Ettelbrick for the on-rink celebration and the trophy presentation.
 
GCU became only the third western conference team in the 26-year history of the event to win the Division 1 championship, following the lead of Cal Poly Pomona (2003) and Long Beach State University (2011). The Lopes won seven of eight games over a 75-hour span at the event – including a 4-0 victory to open the tournament over archrival Arizona State University (their 9^th win this season over the Sun Devils) and an 11-0 victory over Henry Ford College (Michigan). The title game win was GCU's first triumph over Lindenwood in four overall meetings in the Lopes' two-year history, and it snapped the Lions' 36-game winning streak dating back to January of last year. The Lopes finished the 2023-24 campaign with an overall mark of 25-2-2.