News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Alpena’s Anden Marceau skates the puck into the Traverse City Central zone and prepares to fire a shot during the first period of a Big North Conference hockey game on Saturday at Northern Lights Arena.

ALPENA — The Alpena High hockey team wrapped up its regular season Saturday, hosting its annual “Purple Game” for cancer awareness.

A packed Northern Lights Arena provided a playoff-like atmosphere for a game that had all the feels of a postseason contest as the Wildcats welcomed Big North Conference archrival, Traverse City Central.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, giveaways in their own end proved costly as Central scored a pair of second-period goals and added another in the third to skate away with a 3-1 victory.

“Win or lose, this was a good game to end the season. I thought we played well, we played hard and it was a good final test for us before the playoffs start,” Alpena coach Ben Henry said.

The Wildcats (12-13, 7-3 BNC) opened the scoring six minutes into the game. Anden Marceau fired a shot high over the Central net that deflected hard off the glass and right out in front to the waiting stick of Ryan Ritter, who lit the lamp to give Alpena the early lead.

After an even opening period of hockey, the Trojans applied pressure and were aggressive early in the second period.

That pressure led to Central tying the game up at one goal apiece. Collin Bennedict redirected a shot from the point into the back of the net four and a half minutes into the period.

The Wildcats missed a pair of breakaway opportunities on errant passes to potentially regain the lead.

Instead, it was the Trojans that took advantage of an Alpena giveaway in front of their own net two minutes later. Laiken Batcha sent a pass across to a wide-open Cam Peters for the one-timer to give Central a 2-1 lead.

Another giveaway proved costly for the Wildcats as Central’s Hunter Folgmann collected a loose puck, skated around the Alpena defense and went top shelf for an insurance goal to give the Trojans a 3-1 lead with 12:14 to play.

The Wildcats had their chances throughout the remainder of the game. They applied pressure and sent shots at the net, but Central’s Brady Faille was up to the task and strong between the pipes, stopping 29 of the 30 shots he faced.

“They blocked a lot of shots and don’t give a lot up in the middle of the ice and the D-zone and that’s why they’re so hard to play against. Credit to their goalie, he played really well,” Henry said. “We started hot, but then weren’t as good for about 11 minutes, and like I’ve said before, we can afford to fall behind against good teams. It’s like quicksand, the harder you fight, the worse it gets.”

Alpena opens playoff action at 7 p.m. Thursday in Gaylord against Cheboygan in a Division 3 regional semifinal. The winner advances to the regional championship on March 2 in Gaylord.