Michigan hockey players celebrate winning the CCHA tournament at Joe Louis Arena on Saturday night. The Wolverines beat Northern Michigan, 2-1, and reached the NCAA tournament for the 20th consecutive season. (Photo: Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com)

On Saturday night, the Wolverines were forced to play with no margin for error - this time with their NCAA tournament chances hanging in the balance.

Win and they'd advance to their 20th straight NCAA berth. Lose and the season would end in disappointment only a night after shocking the nation's No. 2 team with a semifinal victory over top-seeded Miami (Ohio).

Like they had throughout the playoffs, Michigan put its hopes in Louie Caporusso and Shawn Hunwick, each who played vital roles in a 2-1 championship victory over Northern Michigan at Joe Louis Arena.

Michigan (25-17-1) finished an improbable run to the NCAA, capturing the CCHA's automatic bid. The Wolverines will learn where their season will continue Sunday morning. The 16-team NCAA bracket will be announced at 11:30 a.m. on ESPN2.

"It's not about where we are - it's about how we got here," Michigan coach Red Berenson said after his team collected its ninth Mason Cup and its first since 2008.

"To me, it's been the most difficult, the most challenging way to get into the tournament that Michigan has had in a long time."

Battling adversity proved to be a theme for the Wolverines throughout the year. A struggling .500 team entering the playoffs, Michigan reeled off six straight victories - taking out the tournament's top two seeds in the process.

The Wolverines also became the lowest seed to capture a CCHA Tournament title.

Coming into Saturday night's championship final against No. 3 seed Northern Michigan, the Wolverines - who began the playoffs a No. 7 seed - were determined to finish off their magical run. A week after sweeping through No. 2 seed Michigan State on the road.

"Beating the teams that we have, we've taken the hardest road of anyone to get to the NCAAs," senior defenseman Steve Kampfer said. "We did it, and I can't be more proud of my team."

Michigan took a familiar road, jumping out to a 2-0 lead behind Caporusso, who has been the Wolverines' offensive sparkplug over the past three weeks. The junior scored two power-play goals - the second which extended Michigan's lead to 2-0 at the 10:53 mark of the third period..

But the night came down to defense after Northern Michigan's Andrew Cherniwich scored at 10:47 to force the Wolverines to protect a one-goal lead. As was the case for all season, Michigan was forced to play with their backs against the wall, focusing on the task at hand rather than the reward at the end of the road.

Behind Hunwick - who made 17 saves en route to earning the tournament's Most Valuable Player Award - Michigan's defense stood tall, including in the final 70 seconds when Northern Michigan pulled its goalie to gain an extra skater.

But the Wolverines withstood the late charge before a penalty set up a face-off in Michigan's zone with 2 seconds remaining. Hunwick looked over at the bench, saw his teammates' legs draped over the boards and realized what the Wolverines had just accomplished.

"It's obviously the biggest game of my career," said Hunwick, who improved to 7-1 since taking over for Bryan Hogan on Feb. 25. "I just tried to play like any other game. You just have to take it in 5-minute segments. You just have to get through those five minutes and then worry about the next five.

"You really can't worry about 60 minutes. It's just too long."

After nearly 40 minutes of solid defense, Michigan broke the scoreless tie in an interesting turn of events. After Matt Rust broke his stick along the boards, he skated to the Michigan bench.

Enter Caporusso, who skated onto the ice, took a pass from Brandon Burlon and fired a shot past Northern Michigan goalie Brian Stewart.

The Wolverines' penalty killing unit played a major role before Caporusso's goal, fending all four Northern Michigan penalty play chances. While Michigan's defense kept the game scoreless, its offense missed on a handful of golden chances.

David Wohlberg nearly scored earlier in the second period, leaving a puck dancing along the goal line. But Stewart managed to cover the shot, leaving the game scoreless until the final 20 seconds of the period.

Once with the lead, though, the Wolverines never relented, finally realizing the NCAA berth Berenson refused to discuss until Saturday morning was in reach. Given the path its most recent tournament trip, this season's journey will go down as the most memorable for Berenson's current players, who never allowed their big-picture goals get out of focus.

"We just had a commitment to play solid, team hockey," Caporusso said. "Something clicked - I can't tell you what it was. We had adversity throughout the whole year and finally, we said, 'It's up to us.' it doesn't matter what people say or what's thought of us. We just have to work our hardest and play well. Now we're on the right road."

Jeff Arnold covers Michigan hockey for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at jeffarnold@annarbor.com or 734-623-2554. Follow him at Twitter @jeffreyparnold.