St. Cloud State cruises past Miami (Ohio) 4-1, earns first berth to NCAA Frozen Four

TOLEDO, Ohio - Joey Benik and Cory Thorson each scored twice and Saint Cloud State earned its first-ever Frozen Four berth with a 4-1 win over Miami (Ohio) in the Midwest Regional title game Sunday.

The Huskies (25-15-1), the No. 4 seed in the region, will be in Pittsburgh April 11 to face Quinnipiac or Union (N.Y.) in a national semifinal. Massachusetts Lowell and Yale will meet in the other game.

Benik, who had a pair of goals in Saturday's 5-1 win over Notre Dame, sent a slap shot past Miami goalie Ryan McKay five minutes in to give Saint Cloud State a lead it never lost. He added another when he flicked in a rebound of Brooks Bertsch's shot.

Second-seeded Miami (25-12-5) cut the lead in half on Blake Coleman's power-play goal but the Huskies answered when Thorson scored. He added an empty-net goal in the final minute.

Ryan Faragher had 20 saves for Saint Cloud State. McKay finished with 18.