KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Western Michigan University Broncos hockey made history Friday night, winning the program’s first Penrose Cup as 2024-25 National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) regular-season champions. No. 4 Western Michigan defeated No. 18 North Dakota, 6-4, Friday at Lawson Ice Arena to secure at least a share of the program’s first regular-season crown with three games remaining in the regular season.
 
Western Michigan becomes only the fourth NCHC team to lift the Julie and Spencer Penrose Memorial Cup in the conference’s 12-year history, joining Denver, North Dakota and St. Cloud State. The regular-season championship is the first conference regular-season title in the history of WMU hockey’s Division I era, which began in 1975.
 
The Broncos were picked sixth in the 2024-25 NCHC Preseason Media Poll, receiving one first-place vote, after finishing in sixth place in 2023-24. Now, WMU sits atop the NCHC standings with 50 points, three ahead of second-place Arizona State (47) heading into Saturday night’s series finales. The Broncos can lock up the NCHC regular-season title outright and the No. 1 seed for the upcoming NCHC Tournament with one point in any of their final three games against North Dakota (tonight) or at Miami (March 7-8), or have the Sun Devils drop one point in ASU’s regular-season finale tonight at Omaha.
 
Western Michigan’s win Friday night marked a passing of the trophy, defeating last year’s Penrose Cup champions to win it this year. North Dakota has hoisted the Penrose Cup more than any other NCHC team, winning it six times (2015, 2016, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024). Inaugural Penrose Cup champions St. Cloud State (2014, 2018, 2019) and Denver (2017, 2022, 2023) have each lifted it three times, with UND and Denver sharing the Penrose Cup in 2022.
 
Western Michigan improved to 17-3-1 in conference play this year, suffering only one loss in regulation so far (at Arizona State last Friday, Feb. 21). The Broncos 50 points this season already top North Dakota’s winning mark of 49 points last year, while their maximum potential of 59 points would tie for the second-most in conference history. Overall, WMU is 24-6-1 this season, with the 24 wins tied for the second-most in college hockey.
 
Elsewhere in the NCHC Friday night, No. 12 Arizona State defeated Omaha, 4-1, on the road at Baxter Arena to secure home ice for the quarterfinal round of the NCHC playoffs in the Sun Devils inaugural season in the conference. No. 6 Denver downed St. Cloud State, 3-1, Friday night to jump into third place in the NCHC with its third straight win. The Pioneers, Omaha and North Dakota are separated by only two points in the standings in the race for the final two home-ice playoff spots. All three teams have three games remaining with Omaha and UND finishing the regular season against each other next weekend (March 7-8) in Grand Forks, N.D.
 
The 2025 NCHC Tournament then begins with best-of-three NCHC Quarterfinal series from March 14-16 with the top four seeds hosting the bottom four seeds. The ninth-place team in the NCHC (Miami) does not qualify for the NCHC playoffs. The four quarterfinal series winners advance to the 2025 NCHC Frozen Faceoff at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minn., which will be the final Frozen Faceoff held at a neutral site.
 
PENROSE CUP CHAMPIONS HISTORY
2013-14 – St. Cloud State
2014-15 – North Dakota
2015-16 – North Dakota
2016-17 – Denver
2017-18 – St. Cloud State
2018-19 – St. Cloud State
2019-20 – North Dakota
2020-21 – North Dakota
2021-22 – Denver/North Dakota (co-champions)
2022-23 – Denver
2023-24 – North Dakota
2024-25 – Western Michigan