The MacNaughton Cup has been awarded to the Regular Season Champion of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association from 1960 to 1961, 1966 to 1981 and since 1985. From 1962 to 1965, the Cup was awarded to the WCHA Tournament Champion. From 1982 to 1984, the Cup was awarded to the Regular Season Champion of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Michigan Tech is the MacNaughton Cup trustee.
Origins
James MacNaughton, superintendent of the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, was an avid supporter of amateur hockey during the early part of the 20th century. In 1913, MacNaughton spent $2,000 to fund and purchase a trophy for the American Hockey Association's championship team. The original cup, still in use today, was made of pure silver and weighed almost 40 pounds, standing nearly three feet high. It was first won by the Cleveland Athletic Club in Ohio and remained with the American Hockey Association from 1914 to 1932 as an American amateur version of the Stanley Cup.
Beginning in 1933 and lasting through 1942, the Cup was awarded only to teams from the the Upper Peninsula. There was an eight year span between 1942 and 1950 where the Cup was not challenged for.
The WIHL
The Western Intercollegiate Hockey League was formed in 1951 as the premier college hockey conference in the west. MacNaughton's daughter and son-in-law arranged for the trophy to be awarded to the Regular Season Champion of the new WIHL. Colorado College would become the first college team to raise the MacNaughton Cup after winning the 1951-52 season. In all, five of the seven WIHL teams would win at least a share of the Cup at least once during the WIHL's short lifetime. When the league disbanded in March 1958, the Cup was unclaimed.
The WCHA
The same teams that had previously made up the WIHL banded together again in 1959 to form the WCHA. Denver became the first WCHA champions in 1960, winning the first two MacNaughton Cups in the WCHA before the Cup was awarded to the Tournament Champion instead, beginning in 1962. When the league chose to end the practice of determining a single tournament champion in 1965, the league returned to awarding the trophy to the winners of the regular season.
The CCHA
In 1981, the Michigan Tech Huskies left the WCHA and joined the CCHA, and as trustees of the MacNaughton Cup, brought the renowned trophy to their new home to be awarded to the CCHA Regular Season Champion. Michigan Tech stayed in the CCHA for three seasons before requesting and being approved for readmission into the WCHA. The only team to win the MacNaughton Cup in the CCHA were the Bowling Green Falcons, who won the prize three straight times - the first time in the award's history that it was successfully defended twice.
The Cup Returns
Upon Michigan Tech's return to the WCHA, the MacNaughton Cup once again became the trophy for the league's Regular Season Champion, displacing the newly created Broadmoor Trophy. Since the Cup's return in time for the 1985 season, Bowling Green's feat of three straight titles has been achieved twice - by Colorado College from 1994 to 1996, and by North Dakota from 1997 to 1999 (shared once).
In all, the Cup has been shared five times since its debut in college hockey, most recently in 2005 when Colorado College and Denver tied atop the WCHA standings.
Winners
The MacNaughton Cup has been awarded to college teams every year since 1952, with the exception of 1959.
- 1952 - Colorado College
- 1953 - Minnesota/Michigan
- 1954 - Minnesota
- 1955 - Colorado College
- 1956 - Michigan
- 1957 - Colorado College
- 1958 - North Dakota/Denver
- 1960 - Denver
- 1961 - Denver
- 1962 - Michigan Tech
- 1963 - Denver
- 1964 - Denver
- 1965 - Michigan Tech
- 1966 - Michigan Tech
- 1967 - North Dakota
- 1968 - Denver
- 1969 - Michigan Tech
- 1970 - Minnesota
- 1971 - Michigan Tech
- 1972 - Denver
- 1973 - Denver
- 1974 - Michigan Tech
- 1975 - Minnesota
- 1976 - Michigan Tech
- 1977 - Wisconsin
- 1978 - Denver
- 1979 - North Dakota
- 1980 - North Dakota
- 1981 - Minnesota
- 1982 - Bowling Green
- 1983 - Bowling Green
- 1984 - Bowling Green
- 1985 - Minnesota-Duluth
- 1986 - Denver
- 1987 - North Dakota
- 1988 - Minnesota
- 1989 - Minnesota
- 1990 - Wisconsin
- 1991 - Northern Michigan
- 1992 - Minnesota
- 1993 - Minnesota-Duluth
- 1994 - Colorado College
- 1995 - Colorado College
- 1996 - Colorado College
- 1997 - Minnesota/North Dakota
- 1998 - North Dakota
- 1999 - North Dakota
- 2000 - Wisconsin
- 2001 - North Dakota
- 2002 - Denver
- 2003 - Colorado College
- 2004 - North Dakota
- 2005 - Colorado College/Denver
Most Championships by Team
- Denver - 11
- North Dakota - 10
- Minnesota - 9
- Colorado College - 8
- Michigan Tech - 7
- Bowling Green - 3
- Wisconsin - 3
- Michigan - 2
- Minnesota-Duluth - 2
- Northern Michigan - 1