News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Alpena’s Nick Esch (5), Shane Hamp (20), Owen Limback and Lars MacArthur celebrate after the team scored a goal in the first period of a Big North Conference hockey game against Petoskey on Tuesday at Northern Lights Arena.

The Alpena hockey team put the finishing touches on 2016 and remained red hot with a 7-3 victory over Big North Conference rival Petoskey on Tuesday at Northern Lights Arena.

“We played two periods of fantastic hockey. All three lines put a lot of pressure in the offensive zone. We talked in the locker room after the game about just how good this team can be when everyone is going as hard as they can,” Alpena coach Pete Doubek said. “They like the feeling of it, they like doing it and they take pride in what they do out on the ice.”

It didn’t take long for the Wildcats to open up the scoring as they continued the trend of starting off strong. Just over two minutes into the game Nick Esch set up defenseman Wade Roznowski who fired a shot from just inside the blue line that beat Petoskey goaltender Taylor Troxel to give Alpena an early lead.

Midway through the period the Wildcats added their second goal as Lars MacArthur found the back of the net on a rebound that was assisted by Esch and Shane Hamp.

Alpena was even more impressive in the second period as they collected five goals in the period to take a commanding 7-0 lead.

Esch opened the scoring just over 30 seconds into the period with an impressive goal. Hamp and MacArthur set up Esch who was all alone out front and Esch did the rest as he put his stick between his legs and flipped a wrist shot just underneath the crossbar for the goal.

Less than a minute later Kyle Vandusen scored on assists from Evan LeTourneau and Colby Plowman to extend the Wildcats lead to four.

Alpena added another goal with 3:51 left in the period as Vandusen netted his second goal of the game which was of the shorthanded variety on another assist from Esch.

Less than a minute later, Plowman lit the lamp on assists from Roznowski and Vandusen.

The Wildcats scored their final goal of the period when Ben Budnik ripped a shot from the blue line that found the back of the net with just 20 seconds remaining on an assist from Vandusen.

“The first two periods we really simplified the game. We cycled and forechecked very well and it really paid off for us,” Doubek said.

Alpena entered the final period on the verge of ending the game early, but Petoskey scored three unanswered goals in the final period.

Dan Sysko scored two goals in the period, one of which was a power-play goal and Max Scholl scored an unassisted goal. Bryce DeWitt and Brendan Baker picked up assists on two of the goals in the period.

“We got a little overconfident late in the game and we saw what that did to us and hopefully they can learn from that and down the line when we’re in a playoff game or important conference game we’ll finish the game and not get too overconfident,” Doubek said.

Alpena finishes 2016 on a four game winning streak and will head into 2017 with a 7-2-1 overall record and a 2-1-1 record in conference play.

“Hopefully we’re able to carry this momentum into the new year. We are going to play some good competition throughout the rest of the season so we will have to have to be at the top of our game,” Doubek said. “This is a great group of kids and once they learn to keep the foot on the gas for a full three periods I think we’ll see just how awesome this team can be.”

Jonny Zawacki can be reached via email at jzawacki@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5690.