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Hawks soar to title game

The Miami University hockey team celebrates its 4-1 win over Bemidji State Thursday, April 9, in the Frozen Four semifinals at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.

The Associated Press The Miami University hockey team celebrates its 4-1 win over Bemidji State Thursday, April 9, in the Frozen Four semifinals at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 11:28 AM Friday, April 10, 2009

WASHINGTON — Many of the fans who showed up for the first of the NCAA Frozen Four semifinal games Thursday, April 9, were ready to explode in cheers for Bemidji State.

The Miami RedHawks never gave them the chance.

Bemidji State’s magical postseason story came to an end, and Miami’s kept getting better as the RedHawks shut down the Beavers’ high-powered offense and won 4-1 at the Verizon Center.

The victory vaults Miami into its first-ever NCAA championship game — in any sport. The national title will be on the line starting at 7 p.m. Saturday when the fourth-ranked RedHawks take on the top-ranked Boston University Terriers, who ousted the Vermont Catamounts 5-4 late Thursday.

Sophomore forward Tommy Wingels, who had not scored a goal since Feb. 13 and had only scored one since Christmas, buried the Beavers with two goals and an assist, including an empty-net goal that sealed BSU’s fate with 2:08 remaining in the third period.

His first goal broke a scoreless tie 3:56 into the second period.

“Our power play came up big,” Blasi said. “Once we scored that first goal, you could see that everybody got loose and started to play our game a little bit and then we scored the second one. And even when they made it 2-1, our guys were focused.”

Alden Hirschfeld scored Miami’s second goal 8:35 into the second period. Bemidji State’s Matt Read responded with a goal a little more than a minute later. Miami’s Bill Loupee answered with a goal exactly a minute after that to give the RedHawks a 3-1 advantage.

“I thought we came out and got back to our game, chipped pucks deep,” Wingels said of Loupee’s goal, which stopped BSU’s momentum dead in its tracks.

“I thought we were physical the whole game. After a goal (by the opponent), that’s one of the things you need to do. And Bill came back with a goal shortly after, and it’s a big boost to the team.”

Miami improved to 23-12-5. Bemidji State finished 20-16-1.

NCAA Frozen Four | Miami 4, Bemidji State 1

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