Can Minnesota hockey win its first title in 20 years?

MINNEAPOLIS — The markings of greatness are scattered around 3M Arena at Mariucci, home to University of Minnesota hockey.

A glass case in the main lobby displays the 2003 NCAA championship trophy. Those walking the arena’s underbelly pass banners recognizing Minnesota’s back-to-back national titles in 2002 and 2003. A picture in the players’ lounge shows captain Grant Potulny holding the 2003 trophy on the ice in Buffalo, New York.

Other reminders aren’t collecting dust. Coach Bob Motzko was an assistant when the Gophers twice reached the summit of college hockey. Paul Martin, an alternate captain on the 2003 squad and a 14-year NHL veteran, was a graduate student manager with the team.

“You can’t help but be in this program, walk down the halls and see all the trophies,” Motzko said.

Minnesota hasn’t gripped an NCAA trophy in 20 years, a frustrating famine for the flagship college program in a hockey-obsessed state. Eleven teams have claimed national titles since the last Gophers triumph, including Minnesota Duluth, who has won three, and rivals North Dakota and Wisconsin (one each). The Gophers have been close, reaching the championship game with the nation’s No. 1 team in 2014 before falling to Union, and making four Frozen Four appearances, including last year, when they were blitzed 5-1 by Minnesota State in the semis. But 20 years is 20 years.

“I was curious myself,” defenseman Jackson LaCombe said of the lull. “Obviously, they were close, but there are so many great teams. It’s a hard thing to win.”

With the NCAA tournament beginning Thursday, Minnesota has a team poised for a title push. The Gophers have been ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the country much of the season and received the top seed in the tournament. They will open against Canisius on Thursday night in Fargo, North Dakota (9 ET, ESPN2 and the ESPN app).

Minnesota cruised to the Big Ten regular-season title and never dropped consecutive games. Two players, forward Matthew Knies and center Logan Cooley, are top 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, and two others, LaCombe and defenseman Brock Faber, were nominated.

Minnesota ranks second nationally in goals per game (4.08). The team’s young, dynamic line of Knies, a sophomore, and freshmen Cooley and Jimmy Snuggerud are quasi-celebrities, getting recognized at Minnesota Wild games and at other spots around campus. The defensive core, led by LaCombe and veterans who put their pro careers on pause, is “different than anything I’ve seen,” Motzko…