After defeating UW-Superior 4-1 on Saturday night, the Blugolds men’s hockey team no longer has to worry about sharing their first Northern Collegiate Hockey Association championship with St. Norbert College (Wis.).

The weekend started off rocky, with the men falling 3-0 to St. Scholastica (Minn.) at home on Friday.

Senior goalie Brandon Stephenson said there were a lot of elements that contributed to the team not playing their best that night.

“I think it was mostly us being complacent,” he said. “I mean, we were on a six or seven-game winning streak at the time, and when you have that going on, it’s easy to lose track of team goals.”

The Saints scored all three goals in the first period, and the Blugolds were able to keep them from scoring the rest of the night. Stephenson made 34 saves in the game.

Senior forward Jordan Singer said the team started out too slow in the first, and even though they began to pick it up in the second and third periods, it was too late for them to save the night.

“It’s frustrating to take 50 shots as a team and not make any of them,” he said.

Stephenson said while Friday was disappointing, he was happy the team was able to turn the weekend around on Saturday to defeat Superior.

“I wasn’t worried about Saturday,” he said. “I knew from the way we played on Friday, it just wasn’t us. But it made everyone really anxious to play on Saturday … and I think it made us play that much better just knowing what was on the line.”

Though the team had already secured their first NCHA championship, winning it outright was something that had the team a bit worried, Head Coach Matt Loen said.

But on Saturday, the Blugolds got back on track with 13 seconds remaining in the first period when Singer scored a power play goal.

In the second period, Singer picked up his 18th goal of the season, putting the Blugolds up 2-0.

The night ended with the Blugolds on top, after senior forward Andrew Wilcox and freshman forward Ethan Nauman netted a goal of their own.

Singer said the team was just waiting for the quarterfinals to finish up this weekend so they can figure out who they’ll be playing in the semifinals on Feb. 23.

They’ll face off against whichever team comes out on top, but Singer said he has no clue who that will be.

“All those teams have done so well,” he said. “It’s going to be pretty tight games all around, I think.”

The Blugolds will play host to the semifinals game at Hobbs Ice Arena. Stephenson said the arena is adding more grandstands to be able to accommodate more people.