News Sports Photo by Jonny Zawacki Alpena’s Blaise Keller (17) gains control of a loose puck before scoring a shorthanded goal during the first period of a Big North Conference hockey contest against Traverse City West on Friday at Northern Lights Arena.

For the second time in as many nights, the Alpena Wildcats and Traverse City West Titans played in a contest where overtime was once again necessary to try and settle a winner.

The difference Friday was Alpena (0-1-1, 0-1-1 BNC) and West (1-0-1, 1-0-1 BNC) skated to a 3-3 tie.

But like the Wildcats’ boys basketball team on Thursday, the Alpena High hockey team surrendered a late lead and missed an opportunity for its first victory of the season in the team’s home opener.

“I thought the kids played great tonight. I was really pleased that we played with emotion and heart,” Alpena head coach Chris Limback said. “This was a great learning experience for the kids and we competed all night.”

The Wildcats held a one-goal lead after two periods and extended their lead with 8:55 left to play.

They took advantage of a power play opportunity and scored on a beautifully set up play as Jack Steinke dumped a pass off to Blaise Keller, who sent a cross-ice pass to a wide open Anden Marceau, who sent a one-time shot into the back of the net to give Alpena a two-goal lead.

The Titans did all they could and applied pressure moments later and West cashed in on Alpena’s inability to clear the zone and Tyler Esman sent a blistering slap shot from just inside the blue line past Collin Lightfoot for a goal to cut the Wildcats’ lead to one with 5:51 to play in regulation.

A turning point in the game came with 2:05 left when Evan Kraenzlein was given a misconduct for unsportsmanlike conduct and was disqualified.

Alpena was forced to play a man down and the Titans continued applying pressure. They eventually tied the game with 1:13 remaining when Esman found Ryan Leslie through a crowd in front of the net for a goal.

“I thought it was a hard fought game for both teams. I was pleased, compared to where we were Tuesday and we had a much better effort tonight,” Limback said. “We can’t get penalties at that point in the game. That was a turning point and I thought we had the game, but again it’s another learning experience. Any time you give a team like that fresh momentum you’re going to hurt your chances to win. I’m glad the kids hung on to get a tie, you don’t like to get a tie, but I thought it could have been really demoralizing to leave here with a loss tonight.”

Both teams exchanged blows in overtime and had opportunities.

Lightfoot denied the Titans on four separate occasions in the overtime period to prevent the Wildcats from losing and was strong between the pipes, stopping 35 of the 38 shots he faced.

Alpena’s best chance to end the game came with 2:20 left when Marceau stepped in front of a pass in the West end and was one on one with goalie Mason West, but West turned Marceau away to keep the game tied.

Ben Nowak outplayed the Titan defense in the final seconds and got a good shot off, but once again, West was equal to the challenge and stopped the final scoring chance for either side with 26 seconds remaining.

“We had plenty of chances to score tonight and this is a game that we can grow from and just get better,” Limback said. “We just have to control our emotions, if you let your emotions run wild, you have no chance. Again, I’m proud of the effort, because this was a good hockey team we played tonight.”

Alpena got an unassisted goal from Keller in the first to open the scoring. After West tied the game at one, Nowak scored on assists from Cam Young and Brody Thompson as the Wildcats had West on the ropes and never trailed a team that scored eight goals in their season opener two nights ago.

Alpena returns to the ice today when it hosts Midland at 2 p.m.