Rochester United barely made a whimper last season. Now the hockey team is screaming into the state quarterfinals.

Greyson Hizer scored two goals and Brayden Buckler had one to lead Rochester United to a 4-1 victory over St. Clair Shores Unified in a Division 2 regional championship game at St. Clair Shores Civic Arena on Wednesday night.

“We won four games last year,” RU coach Tucker Penning said before picking up the championship trophy. “I’m so proud of these guys.

“For them to come in and buy in and surpass our goals, it’s unbelievable.”

RU improved to 19-6-1 and qualified to meet Livonia Stevenson in a quarterfinal game that starts at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Lindell Arena in Royal Oak.

“This is way better than last year,” said Buckler, a sophomore who scored his team’s first goal. “I just love seeing the seniors so happy. I’d feel bad if they had lost.”

St. Clair Shores, the Macomb Area Conference White Division champion, finished with a 15-11-0 record.

“It stinks,” coach Nick Radjewski said. “We thought we had a team good enough to win it.

“We had some chances — just couldn’t bury them.”

Hizer, a senior captain, scored in each of the first two periods. His second goal gave Rochester United a 3-1 lead with 4:30 left in the second.

“I shot it at a defenseman and then crashed the net for a rebound,” Hizer said while describing his second goal.

A pass from Rylan Zielinski sent Hizer on a rush toward his first goal, which came with 3:02 left in the first period.

“I did a shifty move to get by the defenseman, got a breakaway and beat the goalie,” Hizer said.

Buckler tied the game 1-1 when he scored 16 seconds before Hizer’s first goal.

“It just happened,” he said. “It was like lightning. I wasn’t thinking; I just reacted.”

St. Clair Shores junior Zach Delmonte scored the first goal of the night, with 10:36 left in the first half. Isaiah Pikora and Caden Gersch drew assists.

Sophomore Nolan Hizer’s empty-net goal with 32.4 seconds left in the third period capped the scoring.

RU’s Ethan Haselhuhn had two assists.

Greyson Hizer appeared to have tied the game with 4:15 left in the first period, but after a discussion the officials ruled his shot did not cross the goal line, Penning said.

“My coaching staff put together a great game plan tonight,” Penning said. “We brought the forecheck to them, frustrated them and capitalized on our chances.”

The Hizer brothers are linemates. Greyson said he and Nolan have “that chemistry” that permeates the entire team, whose players have sported bleached hair since the start of the playoffs.

“We have a whole new squad that’s dedicated,” Greyson said. “They’re hungry for more every game.

“It’s awesome. We’re family here.”

Stevenson advanced with a 6-1 victory over Livonia Churchill.