The University of Michigan hockey team entered the weekend at Joe Louis Arena hoping to win its third CCHA championship in four years.

Those hopes were dashed Friday night with a 5-2 loss to Western Michigan, but the Wolverines took home the consolation prize of third place with a 4-2 win over Notre Dame on Saturday.

While the fourth ranked Wolverines expect to advance to next week’s NCAA Tournament, the loss likely eliminated Notre Dame from postseason consideration. The NCAA Tournament field will be announced Sunday (11:30 a.m., ESPN2).

Michigan goaltender Shawn Hunwick followed up a rough performance against Western in which he surrendered five goals and was pulled after two periods with a (regulation-time) career-high 42 saves against the Fighting Irish.

As they have all year, the Wolverines (26-10-4) did things the hard way Saturday having to come back after the Irish went up 1-0 less than five minutes into the game. Michigan pulled even at the 16:07 mark with a power play goal from Louie Caporusso. Caporusso wasn’t done there as he fed Carl Hagelin for the go-ahead goal just 15 seconds later to give Michigan a 2-1 lead.

Hunwick kept the Wolverine lead intact through the second period making 16 saves and staving off a pair of Notre Dame power plays.

Jeff Rohrkemper gave Michigan an insurance goal in the third period, which the Wolverines ended up needing late against a desperate Irish team fighting for their NCAA tournament lives.

The Irish pulled goalie Steven Summerha relatively early and the extra skater paid off as T.J. Tynan pulled the Irish within a goal with 1:22 to play in the third. An empty net goal from Luke Glendening put a stop to Notre Dame’s late comeback attempt. Miami defeated Western 4-2 in the championship game to win its first-ever Mason Cup.