(Rochester, N.Y.)- The SUNY Canton men’s ice hockey captured their first Eastern College Hockey League championship in commanding fashion on Sunday as they routed the University of Buffalo 9-2 at the Genesee Valley Ice Rink in Rochester, N.Y.

The top-seeded Roos already won the ECHL regular season championship as they improved to 26-8.  SUNY Canton will now prepare for the ACHA Division I national tournament where they’ll be the No. 14 seed and will face No. 3 Ohio University on March 5 at 10 a.m. in Newark, Delaware.

SUNY Canton pounced on the Bulls quickly on Sunday and left no doubt about the final outcome with three goals in the first six minutes of the contest.  They Roos tacked on one more goal to end the period and fired in five more in the second period to beat Buffalo for the third time this season.

Sophomore forward John Payne (Port Moody, B.C.) was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player and freshman defensemen Cory Giczewski (Fountain Valley, Calif.) and JP Boucha (Warroad, Minn.), junior forward Rob Liggio (Canton, N.Y.) and senior goalie Jimmy Merrow (Plainsboro, N.J.) were named to the all-tournament team.

Payne had two assists in the championship game.  Giczewski had two goals and an assist.  Boucha had three assists, Liggio also scored twice, and Merrow had 34 saves and he also recorded an assist.

Ryan Bercume (Potsdam, N.Y.), Corey Spuck (Rochester, N.Y.), Darren Camp (Canton, N.Y.), Doug Burns (Manchester, N.H.), and Tom Darling (Oswego, N.Y.) each scored once on Sunday.

Rich Latona and Michael Musialowski combined to make 51 saves in goal and Matthew Terreri and Mark Zarbo each scored once for Buffalo.