But after six grueling playoff games in nine days, it was the fourth-seeded Fighting Sioux hoisting the coveted, and new-look, Broadmoor Trophy tonight after a white-knuckler of a 5-3 win over No. 3 seed St. Cloud State in the championship game at the Xcel Energy Center.

The road to the Broadmoor began with highly charged, three-game win over storied rival in the opening round of the playoffs last weekend in Grand Forks. That series win left UND facing the task of having to win three games in three days at the 2010 Red Baron WCHA Final Five, something that had never been accomplished until Minnesota Duluth made history last season.

And after earning a berth in the title game with wins over No. 11 Minnesota Duluth and top-ranked Denver, the Sioux found themselves trailing SCSU 2-0 before the game was sixty seconds old. Goals by Garrett Raboin and David Eddy in the opening 55 seconds had the Huskies up and running and UND's title hopes crumbling.

But the derailment was only temporary and the UND freight train got back on track by ratcheting up the physical play in the first period. After Ben Blood (Jr., Plymouth, Minn.) drew a hooking call on Aaron Marvin at 5:44 of the first period, it took just 15 seconds for Sioux freshman Corban Knight (High River, Alberta) to gobble up a loose puck in the slot and beat SCSU goalie Mike Lee.

The Knight goal, the first of four straight for UND, energized the largely pro-Sioux crowd.

Junior forward Evan Trupp (Anchorage, Alaska), later named the tournament's most valuable player, set up Brad Malone (Jr., Miramichi, New Brunswick) for the tying goal with 2:54 left in the second period and sent the Sioux to the locker room fully recovered from the opening-minute blitz.

"That's kind of been the story of our year," said Sioux goalie Brad Eidsness (So., Chestermere, Alberta) of UND's early deficit. "We've been able to battle adversity and I think we were able to settle ourselves down and get back to the job at hand."

UND gained its own two-goal lead with power-play goals by Danny Kristo (Fr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Chris VandeVelde (Sr., Moorhead, Minn.) in the opening 6:05 of the second period, chasing Lee from the net in the process. The SCSU freshman goalie allowed four goals in just over 26 minutes of playing, running his goals against average against UND this season to 6.70.

SCSU's goaltending switch to junior Dan Dunn, however, halted the Sioux momentum and the Huskies were able to pull within one when Eddy notched his second tally of the night with 3:14 left in the second period.

"I don't think we really noticed a change in their play (after the goaltending change)," said senior Darcy Zajac (Winnipeg, Manitoba). "I think we almost got a little satisfied in our play and that's what kind of gave them that spark."

Nearly the entire third period was tilted toward the Sioux defensive zone as St. Cloud State furiously pressed for the tying goal. The Huskies threw 15 shots at Eidsness in the final 20 minutes, but the All-WCHA netminder was equal to the task as the effects of six games in nine days began to take its toll on the Sioux skaters.

Eddy had a pair of golden opportunities to collect the tying goal - and a hat trick - midway through the third period but Eidsness turned him away both times. The tying goal never would come, as Eidsness turned aside all 15 shots he faced and helped the fatigued Sioux valiantly kill a SCSU power-play with less than three minutes to play.

"Probably at around the eight or nine-minute mark I took a look at our bench," said Eidsness, "and I had a feeling I probably shouldn't let in another goal. The boys wouldn't be too happy with me if we had to go to overtime."

Just seconds after the power-play expired, an errant Husky pass bounced out to the neutral zone where UND's Matt Frattin (Jr., Edmonton, Alberta) found himself all alone in the SCSU zone with Dunn on the bench for an extra attacker. Frattin sealed the win with the easy empty netter with just 41 seconds remaining and finally allowed the Sioux bench to exhale.

"That's about the only time that I actually took a breath," joked UND head coach Dave Hakstol. "I didn't completely relax until the horn sounded."

Eidsness, Blood, VandeVelde and Derrick LaPoint (Jr., Eau Claire, Wis.) were each named to the all-tournament team.

The win was UND's second WCHA Final Five championship under head coach Dave Hakstol, who also led the Sioux to a Broadmoor Trophy title in 2006.

The Sioux, winners of 12 of their last 13 games and likely pegged as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament, now await their destination and opponent in the regionals.

The selection show airs at 10:30 a.m. Central on ESPN2.

Notes: Kristo's goal extended his point streak to 13 games. He has seven goals and nine assists during that stretch. The goal was also his team-leading ninth power-play goal of the season, tying him for seventh-most ever recorded by a Sioux freshman ... VandeVelde and fellow senior co-captain Darcy Zajac (Winnipeg, Manitoba) each played in their 165th career game, tying them for eighth all-time at UND ... VandeVelde scored 10 points (5g, 5a) in 10 career Final Five games ... Trupp finished the tournament with three goals and three assists after notching a pair of helpers in the final ... UND is 4-0-1 on neutral ice this season after going 0-6-0 last year ... SCSU forward Tony Mosey, SCSU defenseman Garrett Raboin and Wisconsin forward Blake Geoffrion rounded out the all-tournament team.