DENVER • It was a day for praise and thanks as the University of Denver hockey program celebrated its ninth NCAA Division I championship Tuesday in Magness Arena.

Senior forward Brett Stapley seemed to be responsible for keeping tabs on the trophy the Pioneers earned with a come-from-behind 5-1 victory over Minnesota State on Saturday in Boston. Stapley gingerly set the trophy on a table and tapped it, taking his seat for a series of speeches.

Gov. Jared Polis declared Tuesday was “Denver Pioneers Ice Hockey Championship Day.” Mayor Michael B. Hancock opened up the celebration possibilities.

“Tonight, the mayor says you can go out and break any law you want,” Hancock quipped.

When it was suggested that the next season would feature the program’s 10th title, Cameron Wright leaned over to fellow senior Kyle Mayhew and laughed.

“There’s now a lot of pressure on them to go back-to-back and win it again,” Wright said. “I think it was more of an ‘All right, we’ll handle that in a couple months.’

“For now it’s just excitement.”

Wright closed the scoring against Minnesota State with the Pioneers’ second goal in 32 seconds. All five Denver goals came during the third period.

“It’ll take a couple weeks before we really kind of realize what we did,” Wright said. “But for now, it’s just been excitement and adrenaline and enjoying each other’s company.”

At 32, coach David Carle became the fourth-youngest coach to win a national title in just his fourth season at the helm at Denver (31-9-1). Carle saluted the fans, noting the team’s near-perfect record in the state of Colorado and the success of the NCAA regional in Loveland. Two wins there sent the Pioneers to Boston.

Carle finished his remarks by thanking his players.

“It was just a true joy to come to the rink every day and work with you guys,” he said. “You put everything on the line for each other and for this program. At the end of the day, you got rewarded. We get to hang (banner) No. 9 up in the rafters here.

“You guys will be legends in Denver hockey forever. You’re immortalized in this program.”

With a crowd rendition of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and a shouted fan request that goaltender Magnus Chrona “have my baby,” plus a few more cheap shots at southern rival Colorado College, Stapley collected the trophy and the party continued.

“It’s been the best 48 hours of my life, probably,” captain Cole Guttman said. “The celebration with the community and everyone on campus and with all the boys has been so much fun.

“We worked so hard for it, so just to have some fun together and kind of relive the moment has been awesome.”