Great Lakes Wire

The Wildcats faced a challenging game in their home-opening weekend, resulting in a 5-3 loss to the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves. The match was notable for Aidyn Hutchinson, Tynan Ewart, and Anthony Cliche, who each scored their first collegiate goals for the Wildcats.

Billy Renfrew and Jakub Altrichter contributed with their first career collegiate points by assisting on goals. Ryan Ouellette was close to matching his personal best in saves, stopping 44 shots during the game.

Head coach Dave Shyiak acknowledged both the team's win from the previous night and areas needing improvement. "Last night was a good win, but there's still a lot we can do as a team to improve," Shyiak said. He noted that while some players performed well, "tonight [Alaska] was the better team; they were bigger, stronger, had good sticks, and they deserved to win."

Shyiak emphasized overcoming adversity as crucial for his team. "For our guys it's an adversity thing... We're gonna have to fight to create offense," he stated. He highlighted the importance of effort and competition in creating offensive opportunities.

Looking ahead, the Wildcats will remain at home next weekend when they host the Arizona State Sundevils on October 25th and 26th.

In other highlights from the game: Jakub Altrichter led with 11 faceoff wins; Jesse Tucker, Danny Ciccarello, and Billy Renfrew each won nine faceoffs; and despite being perfect on penalty kills (4/4), the Wildcats struggled with power plays (0/2).

The match's events unfolded dramatically. Tanner Edwards set up Porter Schachle for an early lead by firing past Ouellette. Hutchinson responded quickly for the Wildcats with an impressive solo goal. Tynan Ewart later scored following a pass from Joe Schiller.

Despite efforts by Karter McNarland and Davis Goulker extending Alaska's lead further into the game, Cliche managed to score again for Northern Michigan University after pressure from Altrichter and Romer forced a turnover.

Ultimately, Ben Anderson secured victory for Alaska Anchorage with an empty-net goal that concluded scoring at 5-3.