SAULT STE. MARIE — The first half of the season has been challenging for the Alpena High hockey team.

The Wildcats had just one win entering Saturday’s matchup against the No. 9 ranked Midland Dow Chargers and were coming off of a disappointing 7-1 loss to Plymouth the night before.

A lot changed in less than 24 hours and the Wildcats put together their best performance to date and shut out the Chargers (9-2) and skated away with a 2-0 victory in the final game of a weekend showcase at Sault Ste. Marie.

Dow entered as the ninth ranked team in Division 3, but Alpena got great goaltending out of seniors Jimmy Bolanowski and Colin Lightfoot, along with a pair of third period goals, including an empty netter to stun the Chargers and get a much needed confidence boost headed into the second half of their season.

“It was a huge win for us. It gives us all hope and belief for the rest of the season. Jimmy (Bolanowski) played well and had an equipment malfunction and Colin (Lightfoot) came in and made five big saves so it was a total team effort,” Alpena coach Chris Limback said. “We stuck with the gameplan, moved things around, got some good breaks and paid attention to detail and it was easily the best game we had played all season.”

Brett Ciupka broke the scoreless tie after finding the back of the net with 4:36 left in the third period to put the Wildcats on top.

Alpena held the lead and forced the Chargers to pull their goalie and the Wildcats cashed in on the empty net opportunity as Tanner Orban iced the game with 20 seconds remaining in the contest to send the Wildcats back to Alpena with a huge momentum boost.

Alpena (2-9-2) will travel to Traverse City on Thursday for the TC Reps showcase.

The Wildcats will play Muskegon Mona Shores at 8 p.m. on Thursday and return to the ice against Kingsford at 4 p.m. on Friday.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Marquette 66,

Alpena 64

MARQUETTE — The Alpena High boys basketball team was seconds away from completing a long weekend road trip to the Upper Peninsula and nearly came back with two victories and remain unbeaten, but Marquette stunned the Wildcats by hitting a three at the buzzer to send the visitors back to Alpena with a 66-64 defeat and its first loss of the season.

The Wildcats led after each quarter and held a comfortable 42-30 halftime lead.

The Redmen cut the lead to 52-48 after three quarters and despite Alpena leading much the game, Marquette hit the big shot in the final seconds to stun the Wildcats and hand them their first loss of the season.

Alpena (4-1) will be back in action on Thursday when they travel to Traverse City to take on the Big North Conference rival TC West Titans.