HENRIETTA, N.Y. — A great day if you’re a hockey fan in Rochester. The RIT Tigers are the Atlantic Conference champions for the first time in eight years, after beating out American International, 5-2, Saturday night.

With the win, the Tigers clinch an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016. It’s something the fans News10NBC’s Bret Vetter has been speaking with have been dreaming about.

After the buzzer, the Tigers took off their helmets, threw them on the ice — and the celebration began. Fans began pouring out of the mean concourse at the Gene Polisseni Center, yelling “RIT! Go, Tigers!”

Just after the team got off the ice, News10NBC spoke with several fans who said they are just happy to have gotten to see the game because tickets sold out within minutes of going on sale. Fans like Katherine and Cameron Paul.

Katherine Paul: “Oh my God, it’s so exciting, especially because they’re from Rochester. It’s really exciting to have a local team.”

Bret Vetter: “How did you get the tickets?”

Cameron Paul: “We came with another group of people, and they got them for us, so yeah, he was on the Internet within minutes of it turning on. And we get them within the first hour.”

It was the first championship game the Tigers have played in since 2016 and a night fans at the Polisseni Center won’t soon forget.