FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The top seeded University of Michigan-Dearborn men's ice hockey team won its first ever game in the newly formed Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference postseason tournament, topping No. 4 seed Rochester College in the semifinals Saturday in Fort Wayne, Ind.
The No. 8 Wolverines found themselves in a scoreless tie after one, but took control in the second period as they have so many times this season. UM-Dearborn scored five unanswered goals and rolled to a 6-2 win over the Warriors.
The Wolverines move on to the first WHAC Championship Game to take on No. 3 seed Aquinas College, which topped No. 2 seed and tournament host Indiana Tech 2-1 earlier on Saturday.
The championship game between the Wolverines and the Saints will be a third meeting between the two schools this season. UM-Dearborn swept a home-and-home series in December, winning 4-1 at home and 5-1 on the road.
UM-Dearborn improves to 24-5-2 overall on the season.
Mike Scarpello (SR/Plymouth, MI) got the scoring started with a goal on a feed from John Ames (FR/Woodhaven, MI) early in the second. UM-Dearborn leading scorer Tyler Groat (JR/Wyandotte, MI) added another late in the period from Andrew Palushaj (SR/Livonia, MI). The third was barely underway when Kyle Schnettler (SO/Metamora, Mich.) and Conor Cunningham (FR/Trenton, MI) found captain Kevin Bechard (JR/Trenton, MI) to make it 3-0.
The Wolverines added goals from Marcus McSweeney (SR/Chandler, Ariz.), Jared Dedenbach (JR/Warren, MI) and Silas Johnson (FR/Calgary, Alberta, Canada) to pull away in the third. Thomas Proudlock (JR/Southgate, MI) got the win in net for the Wolverines, stopping 28 shots and improving his record to 16-3 on the season.
Puck drop for the championship game is set for 12:30 pm at the SportONE/Parkview Ice House in Fort Wayne.
