News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Anden Marceau (middle) celebrates with teammates Cam Young (left) and Harrison Kaszubowski (right) after scoring a first-period goal during a Big North Conference hockey game against Traverse City West on Saturday at Northern Lights Arena.
ALPENA – The past three weeks have been frustrating for the Alpena High hockey team and the Wildcats entered Saturday’s game less than 24 hours removed from a Senior Night defeat.
Despite all that has gone wrong, Alpena (10-10, 5-2 BNC) seemed to regain its identity and got back to what made them successful early in the season. They executed on the power play and penalty kill to skate past Traverse City West (9-9-1, 2-2-1 Big North Conference) for a 8-2 victory and to snap a six-game losing skid.
“We competed really hard today and it was one of our best games in the last few weeks,” Alpena coach Ben Henry said. “It was a special teams day. Our power play and penalty kill was really good and I was happy with our performance tonight.”
The Wildcats came out firing on all cylinders early in the first period.
Alpena applied pressure early and often and had a pair of chances in the opening minutes of the game, but had two shots hit the crossbar.
The Wildcats took advantage of power-play opportunities and opened the scoring midway through the first period. Anden Marceau fired a wrist shot from just inside the blue line found the back of the net over the glove side Titans goaltender Mason West on assists from Cam Young and Matt Thompson.
Alpena cashed in on its next power-play opportunity with 5:18 left in the first period. Marceau fired another shot from inside the blue line that was stopped by West, but Young collected the rebound and sent the puck past West to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead.
The Wildcats began the second period down five on three after a pair of late first-period penalties. But the Alpena penalty kill and goalie Aidan Schultz were up to the task and killed off the penalties.
The Wildcats extended their lead with 5:26 left in the second frame. They took advantage of a five-on-three advantage and scored their third power-play goal of the game. Thompson handed the puck off to Harrison Kaszubowski who patiently waited before sending a wrist shot from the high slot that found the back of the net.
Schultz and the Wildcats’ penalty kill came up big again later in the frame after the Titans spent nearly two minutes on a two-man advantage.
The Titans cashed in on a power-play opportunity and cut into the lead as Michael Schermerhorn scored 16 seconds into the third period.
Alpena responded by applying immediate pressure and had a handful of scoring chances to regain its three-goal lead. It finally did when Marceau netted his second goal of the game just over two minutes after the Titans goal to put Alpena up 4-1.
Marceau wasn’t finished and helped the Wildcats extend the lead. Marceau recorded a hat trick and scored Alpena’s fourth power-play goal of the game and gave the Wildcats a comfortable 5-1 lead.
Alpena wasn’t satisfied and continued to dominate on the power play. The Wildcats scored their fifth power-play goal of the game when Brody Thompson lit the lamp.
The Titans added their second goal, but again Alpena responded on the power play as Matt Thompson scored the Wildcats’ sixth power-play goal on assists from Brody Thompson and Easton Schultz.
Kaszubowski put an exclamation point on a dominant afternoon after he scored his second goal and recorded Alpena’s seventh power-play goal and eighth and final goal of the game.
The Wildcats will have a week off to prepare for a non-conference game the next time they return to the ice when they travel to Midland next Saturday.