News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Anden Marceau (10) celebrates his third goal in the third period of a Division 3 regional championship game against Gaylord.

GAYLORD — Exactly three years ago to the day, the Alpena High hockey team celebrated its first regional championship in 12 years on the ice of the Otsego County SportsPlex in Gaylord.

On Wednesday, the Wildcats hoisted their second consecutive regional crown and third regional title in the last four years.

Alpena defeated Gaylord 9-6 in a wild and crazy Division 3 regional championship and once again celebrated in the Blue Devils’ home rink.

The win marked the third time this season the Wildcats were victorious over their Big North Conference foe and second straight year Alpena knocked off Gaylord in the regional championship game.

“It was a wild game. We had a good first period, but the second period was not so good. We knew it was going to be tough and Gaylord battled all night,” Alpena coach Ben Henry said. “It’s playoff hockey and anything can happen and that’s what happened tonight. It was fun and was a rollercoaster of emotions, but we got the job done.”

Much like last week’s playoff opener, the Wildcats came out firing on all cylinders and dominated play early.

Alpena wasted no time lighting the lamp as Anden Marceau picked up a loose puck in the high slot and fired a wrist shot past Gaylord goalie Owen Corbin 46 seconds into the game.

Less than two minutes later, the Wildcats found the back of the net again as Matt Thompson fired a shot on net from the point. Cam Young corralled the rebound and scored to put Alpena up 2-0 in the blink of an eye.

The Wildcats weren’t done and continued to apply pressure. They cashed in on a Gaylord turnover as Reid Meinhardt made a perfect pass to a wide-open Garrett Hamp for another goal to put Alpena up 3-0 with 6:30 left in the opening period.

It appeared the Wildcats scored a fourth goal, but had a goal waved off after the referee lost sight of a puck that ended up in the back of the net.

Not to be denied, Alpena won the faceoff, got a quick shot on net and Meinhardt put home the rebound and the Wildcats got their fourth goal of the period with 1:17 to play.

The Blue Devils cut into the lead with a goal with 32 seconds left in the period when Isaac Hopp snuck the puck under the arm of Alpena goalie Aidan Schultz, but the Wildcats held a 4-1 lead after one.

The late first period goal gave the Blue Devils some life and they carried momentum into the second. They made the game interesting with a pair of quick goals from Colton Hurst after Alpena’s inability to clear its own zone and Gaylord cut the lead to 4-3.

The Wildcats got a great individual effort from Ian Lightfoot as he skated end to end, put a shot in net, collected his own rebound and scored to put Alpena up 5-3 with 5:38 left in the second.

The Blue Devils answered less than a minute later as Alpena once again failed to clear the zone and Vaughn Voss fired a shot from the point over the shoulder of Schultz to cut the lead to 5-4.

The Wildcats got a much-needed boost late when Meinhardt found the back of the net with 46 seconds to play in the period after corralling a loose puck off of a shot from Thompson to give Alpena a 6-4 lead heading into the third.

The Wildcats added an important goal and went ahead 7-4 midway through the period on a goal from Marceau.

Eight seconds later, the Blue Devils once again responded and once again it was Hurst who scored his third goal to record the hat trick and trim the lead back to two.

With 6:10 left in the third, Marceau added a third goal of his own to cap off a huge seven point night with three goals and four helpers.

Gaylord continued to do all it could and Voss added another goal with 1:42 left to play.

Kaszubowski scored the final and easiest goal he’ll ever have with an empty netter with five seconds left and the Wildcats finally put the game to rest and the celebration was on.

“We’re going to have to tighten up our D-zone in order to give Calumet a run for their money,” Henry said. “I’m excited, it should be a good game. It’s nice to win this trophy for sure, but we’re going after the bigger one.”

Alpena now focuses its attention on a quarterfinal rematch from a year ago as the Wildcats travel to Marquette where they’ll play No. 8-ranked Calumet with the hopes of avenging last year’s 6-0 season-ending quarterfinal loss to the Copper Kings.