UND Hockey picked to win third consecutive Penrose Cup

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The University of North Dakota has been selected to capture a third straight Penrose Cup as National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) regular-season champion, according to the league’s annual preseason media poll released on Wednesday afternoon.

North Dakota won a second straight league title last season (19-4-1) en route to the program’s eighth NCAA Division I men’s hockey championship. The Fighting Hawks return 18 letterwinners under second-year head coach Brad Berry, including a pair of NCHC Preseason All-Conference Team selections in junior goaltender Cam Johnson and sophomore forward Brock Boeser.

UND garnered 25 of a possible 30 first-place votes, totaling 235 points. Denver, which fell to UND in last year’s Frozen Four semifinal, was second in the vote and grabbed three first-place nods. Minnesota Duluth garnered the remaining two first-place votes and was chosen third.

UND will open the 2016-17 season on Saturday, Oct. 1, with an exhibition game against the University of Manitoba and will raise its national championship banner in a pre-game ceremony.