For the second straight year St. Cloud State can claim a regular season trophy for the first time.
St. Cloud State won the first-ever National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) regular season title on the final night of conference games. SCSU won the Penrose Cup, awarded to the NCHC regular season winner, with a 4-1 win Saturday over Colorado College after North Dakota fell 2-1 to Western Michigan. The Huskies finished the regular season with a total of 45 points - 3 more than UND - and will host Miami in the opening round of the postseason Friday and Saturday.
The team celebrated afterwards in Colorado Springs, which fittingly was the home of the trophy's namesake.
Huskies gather around the Penrose Cup! pic.twitter.com/mKNiUXfWST
— DanT (@danterhaar) March 9, 2014
St. Cloud State players also took selfies with the Penrose Cup because SELFIES!!!!
Look what we found.. #penroseselfie @JimmyDowder26 pic.twitter.com/TRvGuzSGfO
— Nick Oliver (@OliWagon27) March 9, 2014
If North Dakota had won Saturday, both teams would have been considered co-champions. It's a position St. Cloud State knows too well. Last season the Huskies shared the WCHA regular season title with Minnesota before both teams moved to different conferences.
The NCHC began sponsoring Division 1 hockey in 2013-14. Six teams came from the WCHA while two others (Western Michigan, Miami) played last season in the now-defunct CCHA.
Besides first place, several other spots in the eight-team league were on the line this weekend. Nebraska-Omaha, picked last to start the season, and Minnesota-Duluth clinched home ice. The Broncos' win Saturday also helped because it leaped WMU ahead of Denver, whose squad lost to Miami 2-1.
2013-14 NCHC Final Standings
Points | Wins | Losses | Ties | Shootout Wins | |
St. Cloud State | 48 | 15 | 6 | 3 | 0 |
North Dakota | 45 | 15 | 9 | 0 | |
Nebraska-Omaha | 42 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 1 |
Minnesota-Duluth | 37 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 2 |
Western Michigan | 37 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 2 |
Denver | 35 | 10 | 11 | 3 | 2 |
Colorado College | 24 | 6 | 13 | 5 | 1 |
Miami | 20 | 6 | 17 | 1 | 1 |
NCHC Point Structure: 3 points for regulation/OT win, 1 for tie, 1 extra point for shootout winner (so a SO win=2 points)
Next weekend's best-of-three first round sets up like this with the higher seeds hosting. All games are Friday March 14-Sunday March 16 except for Nebraska-Omaha vs. Denver, which is Thursday-Saturday.
NCHC Playoff Bracket
(Winners Advance to NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals March 21 at Target Center in Minneapolis)
#1 St. Cloud State vs. #8 Miami
#2 North Dakota vs. #7 Colorado College
#3 Nebraska-Omaha vs. #6 Denver
#4 Minnesota-Duluth vs. #5 Western Michigan
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Nathan Wells is a college hockey columnist for SB Nation. You can also follow him on Twitter -- Follow @gopherstate