Alice Cranston had a hat trick and Melissa Deardorff recorded her second consecutive shutout as the Flacons defeated Finlandia University, 6-0, on Friday night to clinch the regular season NCHA title.

The Falcons took over in the first period and never looked back as Cranston score first at 14:37 to open up the scoring. Assists were credited to Alyssa Black and Sam Greeley. At 18:33, Katie Flanagan found the back of the net on an assist from Cranston to make it 2-0 Falcons after one period.

The only goal of the second period would be scored of the hot stick of Cranston at 13:06. Judy Daleiden and Black were given assists on the goal.

In the third period, the Falcons put the game away as Brook Story scored on an assist from Amanda Ryder just 17 seconds in to make it 4-0. Just over six minutes later, at 6:36, Kait Mason made the score 5-0 with a goal. Emma Nordness and Daleiden recorded assists. Cranston would complete the hat trick at 11:26 in the third on a feed from Heather Horgen and Flanagan to make the score 6-0.

Deardorff recorded her third shutout of the season with 20 total saves and improves to 12-3 overall.

The Falcons outshot Finlandia in every period and 50-20 overall. UWRF also took advantage of power play chances as they converted three of six chances on the night.

"Their goalie played well, but we worked hard to outshoot them and have a very solid game,” said Coach Joe Cranston, “Alice played very well and had a hat trick and we were also able to roll four lines throughout the game.”

UWRF clinches their second NCHA regular season title in as many years and also their third in the past four years.

The Falcons improve to 17-3-2 on the season and 15-2-1 in the NCHA. Finlandia falls to 0-19-2 overall and 0-16-1 in the NCHA.

Game two of the weekend doubleheader will be on Saturday, Feb 11 at 2 p.m.

Box Score