HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- The Alabama Frozen Tide can roll, too.

Alabama beat Florida 7-2 in Sunday's championship game for the South Eastern Collegiate Hockey Conference fourth annual tournament at the Wilcoxon IcePlex. The Frozen Tide received the Army Strong Championship Cup with their first SECHC title.

"We started early and we had a great first period," said Alabama's fourth-year coach Mike Quenneville, who played at UAH from 1987-89. "The ability for me to play four lines, keep the pressure on them, was huge.

"I'm just very proud of how we played. This is our first SEC championship. I'm just proud of my boys, proud of our fans and all. It's just an awesome feeling to be champions."

Matt Mayes, a junior center from Huntsville, had one goal and one assist and was named Alabama's player of the match. Zach Dailey had two goals and one assist; and Mark Wysock added two goals. Goalie John Bierchen was named the tournament most valuable player after allowing only two goals in 120 minutes, including Friday's shutout over South Carolina.

"It was awesome," Mayes, a junior center from Huntsville, said. "It was just an unbelievable experience, something I'll never forget."

Alabama (30-10-1) went up 2-0 in the first period on two shots from the slot. Mayes scored at 15:23 with an assist from Dailey. Alex Dubrinsky bounced the puck over Florida goalie Jake Lewis at 16:49 with assists from Kenneth Grabeldinger and Tanner Himmelman.

The Frozen Tide went up 3-0 at 1:25 into the second period on Dailey's goal. Wysock scored a power-play goal at 8:14 with assists from Himmelman and Clay Link.

The Gators (18-6) cut their deficit to 4-1 with a power-play goal at 9:28 by Michael Dutka, assisted by Scott Schilson and Zach Roesch. Florida got closer with Roesch's power-play goal at 10:35 on assists from Scott Schwartz and Michael Jugan.

Alabama's Christian Edge made it 5-2 at 12:37 in the second. Wysock got a power-play goal at 10:56 in the third with assists from Kenny Janssen and Link. Dailey finished the scoring at 14:41 with assists from Mayes and Ryan Barletta.

"They're a good team, just capitalized on pretty much every one of their opportunities. And that's basically it," Florida coach Tracy Jacobson said. "You can't give a good team like that chances we gave them and they buried every one of them."

In the third-place game, Vanderbilt (20-7) won 5-2 over Georgia (9-16-2). Ben Ross raced in and scored just to the left of the crease at 2:47 in the first period with an assist from Eliot Rosenfield on the power play. Brad Pesce, assisted by Thomas Trepanier, put the Commodores up 2-0 at 14:25.

Georgia's Peter Kacer cut the deficit to 2-1 at 6:38 in the second period when he raced toward the net from the left side and scored his league-leading 50th goal. He tied the score with his 51st on the power play 23 seconds into the third.

But it was all Vanderbilt after that, including a power-play goal at 3:14 by Jordan Zauderer, assisted by Pesce; a goal by Jack Delehey at 12:33; and Ross' second goal of the game at 17:00, assisted by Kyle McCann.

"This team's got a lot of heart," said Ross, named Vandy's player of the match. The sophomore center is from Manchester, Vt.

Vanderbilt coach Thomas Bernstein won the John Hoos Coach of the Year Award as voted by the club league's coaches. This is his second year leading the Commodores.

"We did a better job of dumping the puck last night and today," Bernstein said. "And we were able to stretch the ice and really get a lot of good scoring chances off that today."

The tournament was hosted by the Huntsville Sports Commission.

"We've got it for two years right now - this year and next year - and hopefully we're going to make it a long-term relationship," commission director Ralph Stone said.

The Frozen Tide will compete in the American College Hockey Association national championships March 14-17 in Vineland, N.J.

"So we're looking forward to going up there and representing not only our conference but the South region," Quenneville said.