COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — By the time No. 4 St. Cloud State knew for sure it could claim sole possession of the NCHC’s Penrose Cup with a win Saturday, it was comfortably on its way.
Four players scored goals, and Ryan Faragher made 20 saves as the Huskies won a regular season championship for the second straight season with a 4-1 victory over St. Cloud State.
Western Michigan’s win at North Dakota opened the door for St. Cloud State, which entered Saturday tied with UND, to win the title outright.
The Huskies shared the WCHA’s MacNaughton Cup last season, losing out on a chance to claim it outright with a final-night loss.
This time, they scored twice in the first period and twice in the second to run out to a 4-0 lead.
Kalle Kossila, Jimmy Murray, Nic Dowd and Jonny Brodzinski scored even-strength goals for the Huskies (21-8-5, 15-6-3 NCHC), who will host Miami in a best-of-three first-round NCHC playoff series next weekend.
Archie Skalbeck scored a power-play goal early in the third period for Colorado College (6-22-6, 6-13-5), which finished in seventh place and will travel to North Dakota in the first round.
Courtney Lockwood made 20 saves for the Tigers in his first start of the season.
Here’s video of the postgame celebration:
[youtube_sc url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btXSxzrh85A]
