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By Drew Davis

OXFORD, Ohio - In the seniors' final regular-season home game, No. 12 Miami jumped out to a three-goal lead and claimed a 3-1 win over No. 15 Western Michigan Saturday night at Steve Cady Arena, putting an end to the Broncos' national-best 14-game undefeated streak.

Miami (17-9-6, 14-7-5-2 CCHA) extended its own unbeaten streak to seven games and locked up a first-round bye in the CCHA Tournament with a guaranteed finish of at least fifth place. Western Michigan (15-7-10, 9-6-9-5) lost for the first time since Dec. 10, 2010 against Lake Superior State.

The RedHawks opened the game with all five seniors in the starting lineup after the quintet was recognized prior to the game as part of Senior Night festivities. The class of Justin Vaive, Vincent LoVerde, Andy Miele, Carter Camper and Pat Cannone has now won 102 games in its career, just the third class in school history to top the century mark.

Miami junior forward Matt Tomassoni was the first to light the lamp with a power play goal from about 50 feet out at 14:11 of the first period. He took a pass from LoVerde at the point and dished it low to his right to freshman forward Bryon Paulazzo. Paulazzo carried it back toward the blue line as Tomassoni skated backward toward center, calling for a pass. Paulazzo sent a perfect pass back to Tomassoni, who fired a slap shot through traffic and past Western Michigan goaltender Jerry Kuhn for the 1-0 Miami lead.

Miele gave the RedHawks a 2-0 advantage at 8:13 of the second period when he sent a shot top-shelf past Kuhn. Sophomore forward Reilly Smith stole the puck behind the Bronco net, wrapped around to Kuhn's right and passed to Miele inside the near circle who one-timed it into the back of the net. Miele's goal extended his point streak to a career-best 11 games.

Miami added to the lead just under three minutes later at the 11:56 mark of the second when sophomore forward Curtis McKenzie redirected a LoVerde shot past the WMU goaltender. LoVerde took a hard slap shot from the left point that McKenzie, flying in from Kuhn's right, timed perfectly. McKenzie cut across the slot just as the puck came in at waist level and tapped it under Kuhn's pad and across the line for the 3-0 Miami lead. Tomassoni picked up his second point of the night with the second assist, tying a career high for points.

The Broncos got one back short-handed with 5:54 to go in the game, cutting the Miami lead to 3-1. The 'Hawks, however, insured there would be no comeback, playing strong defense all over the ice and limiting Western Michigan's chances to seal the 3-1 victory.

Miami junior goaltender Connor Knapp picked up his sixth win of the year, stopping 16 shots behind a stingy RedHawk defense. The Red and White finished with 35 total shots and were 1-for-6 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.

With the win, the RedHawks now need just two points in the conference standings to clinch a home series in the second round of the CCHA Tournament.

Miami is idle next weekend before traveling to Lake Superior State Feb. 25-26 in the team's final series of the regular season.

--MURedHawks.com--