It was the kind of domination that befitted Michigan’s last game of the season at Yost Ice Arena.

In the first period alone the Yost scoreboard read: Michigan 21 shots on goal, Western Michigan 0.

And while the Wolverines didn’t keep their perfect mark alive for the entire game, they do advance to the semifinals of the CCHA playoffs at Joe Louis Arena next weekend.

Michigan beat the Broncos 6-1, powered largely by the Wolverines’ all-sophomore top line of Carl Hagelin, Aaron Palushaj and Matt Rust. Palushaj tallied two goals on the night, and Hagelin was once again agile on the ice, creating the Wolverines’ opening goal by deking past the Western Michigan defense in the offensive zone before passing the puck off to Rust who fed Palushaj for the one timer in front of Bronco goaltender Riley Gill.

The marker, just two minutes into the game, set the tone for the Wolverines in the first period.

Junior Brian Lebler added his ninth goal of the season to continue a tear in the months of February and March, when he had 16 points and seven goals. Lebler scored his goal on the power play just three minutes into the game to get the momentum clearly on Michigan’s side and the Broncos desperate for goals.

By the time Michigan scored its third goal of the period, Michigan already had 20 shots on goal, and its 21th shot at the 19:57 mark of the opening period sent the Yost crowd into a roar. Not only had Michigan outshot the Broncos 21-0, but they added a dagger of a goal off the stick of David Wohlberg who punched the puck off Gill’s skate into the back of the net.

While Western Michigan quickly tallied its first shot of the game eight seconds into the second period and opened the scoring against the Wolverines with a marker by Patrick Galivan who leads the CCHA in points, it was too little too late.

And in the final minutes of the second, Palushaj added his second of the game. The two goals tie Palushaj’s game high in his career.

Palushaj circled the net and tried to pass the puck to sophomore Louie Caporusso in front of the net. However the puck was deflected in off a Western Michigan player’s skate to give the Wolverines a 4-1 lead.

The referees reviewed the play to see if the puck deflected off
Caporusso’s skate in which case the goal would have been overturned.

After starting the game off so slowly, the Broncos fired 10 shots on sophomore goalie Bryan Hogan in the second, who allowed one of them in.

Michigan continued to pile on the goals in the third period.

Palushaj continued to add points to his night, feeding a crisp pass to Rust’s stick who then went on a breakaway. Rust deked Gill and put the puck into the right side of the net.

And later in the period, senior Tim Miller added his 10th of the season off a rebound shot initially taken by fellow senior Travis Turnbull.

Michigan will take on the second lowest seeded team remaining in the quarterfinals which could be either Ohio State, Miami (Ohio) or Alaska.