If Red Berenson's memory serves correctly - which it typically does - the Michigan hockey team will make its 21st straight CCHA Tournament Final Four appearance this weekend at Joe Louis Arena.

But none of Michigan's previous trips have been like this one. The Wolverines were stamped a tournament also-ran before March. They've never been forced to travel such a long road to Detroit, not to mention having to oust heavily favored Michigan State in East Lansing in order to arrive at its familiar March destination.

Yet, here are the Wolverines, picked as the CCHA's top team in the preseason, back at Joe Louis and now considered one of the Final Four's most dangerous teams.

Coming off its most impressive weekend - a CCHA quarterfinal sweep of the No. 2-seeded Spartans on their home ice - Michigan has the big-game momentum needed to earn a 20th straight NCAA berth that will come with two more victories this weekend.

In order to do so, the No. 4-seeded Wolverines (23-17-1) must clear another obstacle: This time in the form of top seed Miami (Ohio). The Red Hawks (26-6-7), who swept their two regular-season meetings, 3-1 and 5-1, with Michigan in early November, advanced to the semifinals with a 2-1 win over Ohio State Sunday night.

Ferris State, the No. 2-seed, and No. 3 Northern Michigan will meet in the other semifinal on Friday.

Michigan jumped into a 16th-place tie in the PairWise rankings, which uses criteria such as RPI, strength of schedule and record against top 25 competition to simulate the NCAA selection committee process. Sixteen teams advance to the NCAA Tournament.

"We played against a good team, we were a good team and we found a way to win in a close game," Berenson said after Saturday night's series-clinching 5-3 win at Munn Ice Arena. "I thought we were a better team this weekend than we've been all year.

"I think our team is coming together. When you come together, it's not just the offense, not just the scorers, not just the power-play guys, not just the goalie, it's everybody. Our team has bought in to what we have to do to win."

Michigan advanced while continuing to play with walk-on goalie Shawn Hunwick, who improved his playoff record to 4-0 and who did not allow a 5-on-5 goal all weekend against the Spartans. The Wolverines played flawless defense in a dominating 5-1 victory Friday night despite not having injured senior captain Chris Summers on the ice.

The Wolverines enter next weekend's CCHA semifinals having outscored its playoff opponents 21-6 and averaging five goals per game. Among the Final Four participants - only Miami (Ohio) has scored more goals (137) this season than Michigan (134).

"They cranked it," Michigan State coach Rick Comley said of Michigan's 44-21 shot on goal advantage in Saturday night's win. "They have three lines, 30 goals, 30 goals, 40 goals. The only other team that we seen that even comes close to that caliber, if they're going to play like that, is Wisconsin.

"Even Miami (Ohio) I don't think is as good as that team is playing right now."

Penalty killing was an issue for Michigan. The Wolverines surrendered three straight power-play goals Saturday, falling behind 3-2 before scoring goals in each of the final two periods to close out the Spartans.

But with four days to shore up its special teams and riding a wave of momentum created by six wins in its last seven outings, Michigan again heads to Detroit believing it can walk away with its ninth CCHA Tournament championship.

The Wolverines last captured a crown at Joe Louis Arena in 2008.

"We know we're all very talented, we know we're capable of putting games together and winning," defenseman Chad Langlais said Saturday night. "It's just a matter of finding our own rhythm and I think we're finally finding that."

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.