It wasn’t a conventional route to a series victory for a top-seeded team. Maybe that made it a little sweeter.

Miami University’s hockey team suffered a stunning 3-0 loss to last-place Michigan State on Friday, then rallied for back-to-back 4-1 triumphs to wrap up the Central Collegiate Hockey Association quarterfinal series at Steve Cady Arena.

Freshman Sean Kuraly scored twice in the first multi-goal effort of his collegiate career in Sunday’s finale, which included goals from Kevin Morris and Austin Czarnik.

“I think we’ve been in the right mind-set since the beginning of the season,” said Morris, a freshman forward. “It’s been a process, and we’ve stuck to that process. Now we’re looking forward to Michigan.”

The RedHawks (24-10-5) will face the Wolverines (17-18-3) in the semifinals Saturday at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Puck drop will be at 4:35 p.m.

They met in October in Ann Arbor. Michigan won 4-2 on Friday, and MU won 4-3 on Saturday. The Wolverines are aiming for their record 23rd consecutive NCAA appearance.

“Maybe all the staffs were doing this, but we were just waiting for them to explode,” Miami coach Enrico Blasi said of Michigan, which is 7-0-1 with 34 goals in its last eight games. “They’re a talented team and well-coached. It’ll be a great challenge for us in basically their home building and should be a lot of fun.

“We’ve played Michigan at the Joe a few times, and it’s quite a scene. We haven’t played them in a while, so they’re a different team now, and we’re a different team.”

Blasi praised his seniors for earning their fourth straight trip to the Joe.

“This is the first senior class to go four years in a row, and it’s not an easy place to get to,” Blasi said. “That’s quite an accomplishment and a feather in their cap. To be one of the four teams left in the final season at Joe Louis I think is pretty special.”

The RedHawks didn’t have an easy time with Michigan State (14-25-3), yet notched eight of the last nine goals in the series.

Morris got the ball rolling Sunday with a goal in the first five minutes. It was shorthanded and unique.

MSU goalie Jake Hildebrand came out of the goal to retrieve the puck and tried to send it behind the net, but his errant attempt resulted in the puck hitting the goal. Morris was there and happy to see an empty net.

“First goals are huge in games like this,” Morris said. “I think it’s really important to get the crowd and your own team into it. Luckily, the goalie kind of served up a pizza for me, so that was nice.

“It was kind of a gimme,” he added of his seventh goal of the season. “I think (Hildebrand’s) D went back, and he kind of panicked a little bit and gave me a Gretzky pass off the side of the net, so I was just able to tap it home. It was a little lucky, but I’ll take it.”

Kuraly made it 2-0 late in the opening period, but the Spartans fought back with a Matt DeBlouw goal 6:46 into the second stanza. That was a 5-on-3 conversion, and Miami had to wiggle out of another 5-on-3 situation immediately thereafter.

The middle period was a difficult time for MU, which got hit with five two-minute penalties (Michigan State had one).

“We killed some key penalties in the key part of the game,” RedHawks goalie Ryan McKay said. “To not allow them to get that second goal was probably the biggest part of the game.”

“That just gives you so much energy for the next 10 minutes,” Blasi said of his squad’s penalty killing. “It’s just a big momentum shifter and gave our guys a lot of life, a lot of energy. I thought our guys did a pretty good job with it and staying composed and not trying to do too much.

“We didn’t force pucks. We kept putting pucks behind their D, which is one of the things that we wanted to do, and the guys were into it. They were ready to take on the challenge because we knew they were going to start to push, and they did. We blocked some shots and made some good plays.”

Kuraly deflated Michigan State with his power-play goal midway through the third period, and Czarnik added an empty-netter in the last minute.

Kuraly was happy to dent the scoring column for the first time since Dec. 7.

“When you’re in a little bit of a scoring slump, the first couple are going to be ugly, so I’ve been trying to tell myself the past couple weeks to just get to the front of the net,” said Kuraly, who earned his second Miami warrior shield of the season. “That’s where you score goals. Confidence is something you can throw around a lot, but scoring goals is just something you’ve got to pay a price to do, and getting to the front of the net is how you do that.

“When you get in third periods and know how much work you’ve put in all year, it’s something you don’t want to let slip away.”

Hildebrand had nine saves in the first period for MSU. Will Yanakeff finished in net for the visitors and made 22 stops.

For the RedHawks, McKay showed no signs of fatigue in his third consecutive night between the pipes. He totaled 18 saves.

“To be honest, I felt like I took care of my body all weekend,” McKay said. “It allowed me to stay fresh for the third period.”

Tanner Sorenson and Matt Berry registered assists for the Spartans, who upset Alaska on the road last weekend and made a solid showing in the postseason.

“We asked the guys to empty the tank, and I thought we did,” Michigan State coach Tom Anastos said. “I thought we gave every ounce of energy we had. I thought we played with tons of heart, tons of toughness, and the game came down to specialty-team situations and they won it.

“The results stink. They hurt. But there were a lot of things that came out in the whole playoff run that we can build on. This is not an easy place to come to under normal circumstances. I thought we went nose to nose, toe to toe, from the start of the series to the end of the series. I was real proud of our guys.”

Steven Spinell picked up two assists for Miami. Alex Gacek, Cody Murphy and Marc Hagel chipped in one apiece.

As demoralizing as Friday’s loss was, Blasi said it may have been a good thing for his troops.

“I’m a big believer that everything happens for a reason,” the MU coach said. “As I said Friday night on my way out of here, this happened for a reason. I’m not sure what it is — sometimes you’re not privileged to those reasons — and it turns out that it helped us a lot.

“It helped us intensify our commitment to the team, to each other, to the type of game that we want to play. From here on in, it’s a one-game shot. We know we’re going to play after next weekend, but we want to make sure that we’re ready to go come Saturday.”