DULUTH — Finally after 12 seasons, the NCHC wants to give its postseason championship trophy a name.
The regular season championship trophy has had a name — the Julie and Spencer Penrose Cup — since the league’s inaugural season of 2013-14.
However, a nameless cup has been handed out 11 of the previous 12 seasons — 2020 being the exception because of COVID-19 — to the winner of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. Minnesota Duluth and Denver own the most tournament titles with three each.
Earlier in July,
the NCHC took suggestions from fans.
Those ideas and the league’s own list will be evaluated, and the hope is the league’s postseason trophy will officially have a name before the season gets underway in October.
My advice to the NCHC is not to rush this. The league has gone 12 years without a name for its postseason trophy. Why would it matter if the hardware remains nameless for another 2-3 seasons, or longer?
Minnesota Duluth’s Adam Johnson of Hibbing looks for an opening to shoot the puck during the first period of a regular-season game against the Miami RedHawks in February 2017 at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.
Steve Kuchera / File / Duluth Media Group
An obvious frontrunner is lacking at the moment, though I am admittedly a biased fan of naming the trophy in memory of former Bulldog Adam Johnson, as a number of people have suggested.
Johnson —
who died in October 2023 at the age of 29
while playing professional hockey in the United Kingdom — was on the first UMD team to win the Frozen Faceoff in 2017, recording a goal and four assists against Western Michigan and North Dakota at Target Center in Minneapolis. The fourth assist by the Hibbing native
led to the game-winning power play goal by Joey Anderson
in the final minute of the championship.
Minnesota Duluth head coach Scott Sandelin smiles while listening to a question during the NCHC Media Day on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Clint Austin / File / Duluth Media Group
UMD coach Scott Sandelin would also be a fitting honoree, as the coach with the most NCHC postseason championships to date with three. The only other coach with multiples is the two won by former Denver Pioneer coach Jim Montgomery.
It’s way, way too soon to be naming the trophy after Sandelin, and he’d tell you to name it after Johnson … or anyone or anything other than him.
It’s also still way too soon to name the trophy after the person who took the NCHC and the Frozen Faceoff to the top of college hockey, former commissioner Josh Fenton, who now leads the Summit League.
NCHC Commissioner Josh Fenton delivers the State of the Conference address during NCHC media day on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Clint Austin / File / Duluth News Tribune
The NCHC’s postseason tournament is currently in the midst of a transitional period, going from playing the semifinals and final at the neutral Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul to entirely on campus sites in 2025-26, featuring the top eight teams.
Another new format will debut in 2026-27
when the NCHC expands from nine to 10 teams with the addition of St. Thomas.
Now is a good time to start vetting names, but there’s no harm in taking a year to really think about this decision and sleep on the options. You’ll know you have the right name if you’re still sold on it a year from now.
UMD players hold the NCHC postseason trophy aloft after defeating North Dakota 4-3 in the 2017 championship game at Target Center in Minneapolis.
Clint Austin / File / Duluth News Tribune
Bulldogs rising sophomores Max Plante and Adam Kleber will begin their quest for a second consecutive IIHF World Junior Championship gold medal at the
2025 World Junior Summer Showcase
on July 25-Aug. 2 at the University of Minnesota’s Ridder Arena in Minneapolis.
Plante, a winger from Hermantown, and Kleber, a defenseman from Chaska,
— including nine returnees from the 2025 team — invited by USA Hockey to take part in the 2026 World Junior Championship evaluation camp, that will also include games against Canada, Finland and Sweden.
The 2026 World Juniors will take place Dec. 26, 2025-Jan. 6, 2026, in St. Paul and Minneapolis,
with pre-tournament games happening in Duluth,
Bemidji, Rochester and Mankato in December.
Kleber and Plante were among the eight 2025-26 Bulldogs who took part in NHL development camps this month. Kleber is a 2024 second-round draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres and Plante was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings five picks later in the second round in 2024.
Minnesota Duluth forward Max Plante (10) and forward Callum Arnott (25) celebrate a first-period goal against Miami on Friday, Feb. 28 at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.
Clint Austin / File / Duluth Media Group
Brady Cleveland,
a transfer from Colorado College,
was also at the Red Wings’ camp. Hermantown’s Ty Hanson and Zam Plante were with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Callum Arnott joined Jayson Shaugabay with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Adam Gajan was with the Chicago Blackhawks. Six of the eight invitees were draft picks while Hanson and Arnott attended as undrafted free agent invitees. Zam Plante
at the Penguins’ camp.
Outgoing fifth-year senior Clara Van Wieren
was named a first team academic All-American
by College Sports Communicators. It’s the second year she’s received the honor.
After two seasons playing in the PWHL as a backup in Boston, Emma Soderberg is returning home to Sweden to play for SDE HF, which is coached by former North Dakota assistant and Ohio State associate head coach Peter Elander. Soderberg had planned to return to Sweden after her senior year at UMD in 2021-22, only to return to the Bulldogs for a fifth season.
According to college hockey reporter Mike McMahon, only two conference rivals of the UMD men’s and women’s hockey programs opted out of
Omaha in the NCHC and Bemidji State in the WCHA. Everyone else,
is in for 2025-26.