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The wheels come off

Wildcats doomed by third period struggles in loss to Howell

News Photo by James Andersen Alpena’s Tanner Orban, left, tries to clear the puck while being defended by Howell’s Brandon Eoll during the second period of a hockey game on Friday at Northern Lights Arena.

After 40 minutes of solid play, the wheels came off suddenly and quickly for the Alpena High School hockey team on Friday.

Steven Miller scored twice and Howell scored six third period goals to skate by the Wildcats 7-1 at Northern Lights Arena on the first day of the Holiday Showcase.

Alpena (1-7-2) scored first in Friday’s contest and skated with the Highlanders through two periods. But the Highlanders kept charging and once the floodgates opened, Alpena had no answer.

Six different players scored for the Highlanders, who outshot the Wildcats 33-13 for the game and 25-8 over the last two frames.

“It was a lack of discipline. When you’re young, it’s easy to just stop trying and that’s what we did,” Alpena coach Chris Limback said of his team’s third-period play. “You could see we collectively stopped and when you stop with that composure and discipline, that’s when you end up in the box and forget to pick up your assignments defensively.”

Stefan Frantti netted the go-ahead goal for Howell just 3:38 into the last stanza and from there the Highlanders were off to the races. Miller snuck past a pair of defenders to put a shot past Alpena goaltender Jimmy Bolanowski with 6:46 left and Ryan Moran fired a shot high past Bolankowski from just beyond the left circle with 6:30 left, giving Howell a 4-1 lead.

Andrew Mitter added an empty-net goal with 6:24 remaining and the Highlanders pumped in a pair of power-play tallies from Jack Johnson and Miller with 2:49 and 2:30 left respectively.

“I think there was an eight-minute stretch where we just shut down. That’s what happens with young teams,” Limback said. “We’re so close, but yet so far. You could see through 40 minutes we skated with them and frustrated them and then we just kind of lost it.”

Brett Ciupka gave Alpena an early lead, scoring a power-play goal with assists from Cam Young and Mitch Agius just 3:49 into the game.

“We’re a little offensively challenged and when we have chances we have to capitalize,” Limback said. “It was a nice play off the draw. He got his head up and made a nice shot.”

But Ciupka’s goal mark the high point of the night for Alpena as the Wildcats came up empty on all their chances the rest of the way. The Wildcats had a few rebound chances early in the second period after a shot from the point, but couldn’t convert.

The Wildcats also came up empty on a late breakaway attempt from Tanner Orban in the second period and a breakaway chance from Ben Nowak early in the third period.

In the midst of those missed chances, the Highlanders tied the game when Dominic Rossi scored with 3:39 left in the second period, beating Bolanowski on the glove side.

Despite the final score, Bolanowski stood on his head for the Wildcats in the first two periods, stopping several Howell scoring attempts at point blank range. He made several big stops during Howell’s first power-play in the opening frame and even stopped a one-timer attempted midway through the third period.

“I thought Jimmy was great. I thought the key save was our first penalty that we took. I thought he made an amazing save,” Limback said. “If that goes in, who’s to say whether or not we’re interested in sticking around and really battling?”

Alpena will play in Saturday’s consolation game at noon against either Escanaba or Orchard Lake St. Mary’s who played one another in the second game on Friday night.

The showcase championship game will follow at approximately 2:30 p.m.

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