WASHINGTON, D.C. - Being the winningest college hockey program over the past four seasons means nothing unless you can play for a national championship. Miami University will finally get its chance.

The RedHawks got goals from three unlikely sources in the second period, and Cody Reichard made 24 stops to beat Bemidji State, 4-1, in a matchup of two number four seeds in the opening semifinal of the Frozen Four played at the Verizon Center.

The RedHawks (23-12-5) advance to Saturday’s national championship game against the winner of Thursday’s second semifinal pitting Boston University and Vermont. Game time is 7 p.m. ET.

Bemidji State’s magical run reached an end after the Beavers upset Notre Dame and Cornell in the Midwest Regional. The College Hockey America champs finish their season at 20-16-1.

“We just got beat by a better team tonight,” said Bemidji coach Tom Serratore. “Miami, they were strong and they were quick and reacted well. Every facet of their game was very good. We just couldn’t get on track.”

With Miami’s top six goal-scorers held off the scoresheet, the RedHawks got production from three unheralded scorers. Sophomore Tommy Wingels scored twice, his first tallies in 11 games since Feb. 13. Freshman Alden Hirschfeld was playing in only his 15th game when he scored his fifth goal and second of the NCAA tourney. Senior Bill Loupee had only two goals during the regular season but now has two in the NCAA playoffs.

“At this time of the year, nobody really cares who scores the goals,” said Miami coach Enrico Blasi. “We try to execute our game plan. If you’re in a position to score a goal, then obviously we want you to score a goal. They put themselves in situations. They have gone to the scoring areas in front of the net. … They are giving the team a big boost.”

Miami got the all-important first goal on the power play at 3:56 of the second period. With Ian Lowe in the box for tripping from behind, Andy Miele sent a pass from the right point to Wingels above the left circle. In one motion, Wingels fired a shot that beat Bemidji goalie Matt Dalton (33 saves) to the short left side, rising above his sprawled right leg.

The RedHawks doubled their lead at 8:35 on a long breakout play. Carter Camper sent a pass from the left circle in the Miami end to a streaking Wingels at mid-ice. With the two-on-two break developing, Wingels pulled the puck wide to his backhand and flipped a centering pass. Hirschfeld was crashing toward the right post and used his long reach to sweep the puck into the open net.

Bemidji answered with a power play goal at 9:45. On a perfect passing play, the Beavers quickly moved the puck, from the left point to Tyler Scofield in the right circle, to Matt Francis in the mid slot, to an unattended Matt Read near the left goal post. Reichard was helpless as Read dragged the puck across the crease and fired into the open right side of the cage.

Any momentum gained by the Beavers was swept away a minute later. Will Weber fired a shot from the left circle that hit Dalton’s glove as he sat down in the crease. Loupee, left unattended in front, jabbed at the fluttering puck twice and it bounded off the shaft of his stick at the 10:46 mark.

“I was fortunate to have it roll in and glad to get one for my team there,” Loupee said.

“It was obviously a big goal for them,” said Bemidji’s Travis Winter. “The bigger shifts in a game are always right after a goal. You try to win that shift and unfortunately we didn’t. We thought we were tilting the ice a bit there and then they score a goal.”

Gotcha: Miami goalie Cody Reichard made 24 saves in the win against Bemidji State.

Wingels tacked on an empty netter with 2:08 to play. He forced the play at the blue line, chipped the puck out of the zone, broke down the left wing and fired into the open net from two strides inside the Bemidji blue line.

The Beavers said Miami did a good job limiting their quality scoring chances to four on 25 total shots.

“You never have a definite answer when your line is not going as you expect it to,” said Bemidji winger Tyler Scofield, who was held without a shot. “They did a good job taking away our speed through the neutral zone. I can’t remember too many times when we had great speed coming into the zone.

“We had success lately but tonight it just wasn’t there for us,” Scofield added.

Serratore said his team turned the puck over too many times, failed to get it deep in the Miami zone and, worse yet, could not find a solution.

“We didn’t have the puck pursuit, we weren’t relentless, and we didn’t play as fearless as we did (in the regional),” Serratore said. “Why didn’t we have the jump? Who knows. You have to give Miami credit. They played great. It’s not like they are huge but we’re undersized and we had a hard time getting free. As far as the game plan, we just never could get going.”

Miami is playing in the NCAA tourney for the fourth consecutive year but had not escaped the regional round in its past three tries. The RedHawks were on the selection bubble after losing to Northern Michigan in the CCHA playoffs.

“I can tell you that losing in the finals of the regional the last two years has actually been good preparation for right now,” Loupee said. “You can’t go into these games nervous or go into these games uptight. We were able to accomplish that through that experience.

“Who would have ever thought losing to Northern in the second round of the CCHA playoffs would have been a good thing for our team? It has really helped us experience what a loss at the end of the season would mean. We know now what we’re trying to avoid, and we’re playing for something huge and that’s great.”