DETROIT -- The Western Michigan University hockey team turned the tables on Connor Knapp and Miami University Friday at Joe Louis Arena.

The Broncos peppered the red-hot RedHawks goaltender, who had stymied WMU in recent matchups, with four goals in less than two periods en route to a 6-2 victory in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association semifinals.

Second-seeded WMU (20-13-6) advances to the CCHA championship game at 7:35 p.m. Saturday at The Joe, where it will face the winner of Friday night’s semifinal between top-seeded Michigan (23-11-4) and fourth-seeded Bowling Green (14-23-5).

Third-seeded Miami (23-14-2), whose eight-game winning streak was snapped, faces the Michigan/Bowling Green loser in Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. consolation game.

WMU fell to Miami in last year’s CCHA finals, 5-2, and was 1-10-2 against the RedHawks in the past four seasons entering Friday.

WMU took it out on Knapp and his teammates. The Broncos scored more goals in the first 17:20 than they managed during an entire two-game series at Oxford, Ohio, in January, when Miami won 3-1 and 4-0.

WMU took a 2-0 lead in the opening period. The Broncos got on the board nearly eight minutes into the game on the first of Greg Squires’ two goals.

Seconds after WMU goalie Frank Slubowski nearly was burned with a bad bounce on one end of the ice, the Broncos skated the other way with the rebound. On a well-timed pass from Garrett Haar, Squires chipped the puck past Knapp’s glove side.

The Broncos made it 2-0 late in the period, when J.J. Crew collected an errant Miami pass near the red line on a RedHawks power play, skated alone up the ice and beat Knapp glove side at the 17:20 mark.

Miami answered moments later, however, when Hobey Baker finalist Reilly Smith redirected a shot that deflected off WMU defenseman Matt Tennyson’s left shoulder, off the crossbar and over the goal line with 1:50 left in the first.

Squires stole the momentum back for WMU early in the second period, collecting a rebound on the doorstep of the Miami goal and flipping the puck over Knapp, who was lying on his stomach after making the initial save. Squires’ second goal of the day, this one on the power play, gave the Broncos a 3-1 lead just 1:07 into the period.

WMU made it 4-1 midway through the second, when Will Kessel deflected Luke Witkowski’s shot from the right circle past Knapp. The puck slid to the right of the standout Miami goalie, who was pulled 39 seconds later in favor of Reichard.

After a couple missed opportunities on the power-play by WMU to start the third, including a 5-on-3, Miami pulled within 4-2 when Smith took a wraparound feed from Cameron Schilling and beat a screened Slubowski to his right with 9:14 remaining.

As they had all game, though, the Broncos responded quickly – this time, it took only 29 seconds. Justin Kovacs fired a pass from the left boards to the slot for Kessel, who beat Miami backup goalie Cody Reichard to restore WMU’s three-goal lead, 5-2, with 8:45 left.

The Broncos added an insurance tally at the 13:58 mark, when Tennyson sniped a slapper from the left circle over Reichard’s right shoulder on the power play.

WMU finished with a 35-20 shot advantage.

Contact Scott DeCamp at sdecamp1@mlive.com or (269) 350-6599. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ScottDeCamp.