To secure a share of the 2019-20 National Collegiate Hockey Conference title, the University of Minnesota Duluth needed two things to happen Saturday. First, the Bulldogs had to defeat visiting St. Cloud State University and second, the University of Nebraska Omaha had to take down the University of North Dakota.

No. 5 UMD held up its end of the bargain by throttling the Huskies 6-1, but didn't get the result it hoped for in Omaha as North Dakota prevailed 5-0 to win the Penrose Cup outright.

Forwards Justin Richards and Kobe Roth both scored twice and another junior, defenseman Dylan Samberg added four assists as the Bulldogs completed their eighth series sweep of the year.  UMD, which upended the Huskies 4-1 on Friday night, closed out the regular season with a 22-10-2 overall record to go with 17-5-2 NCHC mark to finish second in the final league standings for the third time in the last four years.

Richards struck twice in the opening period of play to stake the Bulldogs to a 2-0 lead before second-period goals from Bender (6:06), junior left winger Kobe Roth (15:02) and Bender again (17:05) made it 5-1. Rookie right winger Luke Loheit rounded out the scoring with his fifth score of the season with 2:47 to go regulation.

All-American goaltender Hunter Shepard, one of four, fourth-year Bulldogs who was recognized prior to the game as part of Senior Night, finished with 29 saves while David Hrenak and Joey Lamoreaux combined for 30 stops.

"The most important thing was to play a better game, try and get a win for our seniors and close the year out the right way." said head coach Scott Sandelin, whose Bulldogs are 9-1-0 in their last 10 games.  "I thought our guys came out and had a real good first period and we fed off that."

The Bulldogs will host a first-round conference playoff series for a program-best fifth year in a row next weekend when they face Miami University. That best-of-three event kicks off Friday night (March 13) at AMSOIL Arena.