MARQUETTE, Mich. - The Wildcats dropped game two of the home-opening weekend, a 5-3 empty net loss to the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves.

Aidyn Hutchinson, Tynan Ewart, and Anthony Cliche were the goalscorers for the Wildcats, all recording their first career collegiate goals. 

Billy Renfrew and Jakub Altrichter both recorded their first career collegiate points, each with an assist, and Ryan Ouellette was one save shy of his career high in saves set earlier in the season, making 44 on the evening.

The Wildcats now move to 1-3-0 on the early season. Although head coach Dave Shyiak was pleased with the win last night, he made a note that there is still room for growth with his young team.

"Last night was a good win, but there's still a lot we can do as a team to improve, and that's reps in practice and reps in game experience. Our goaltender played very well and gave us a chance to win, and there were some other guys that stepped up… but tonight [Alaska] was the better team; they were bigger, stronger, had good sticks, and they deserved to win."

Battling through adversity is something that head coach Shyiak and his coaching staff have hammered home to their players, and tonight was an example of that.

"For our guys it's an adversity thing, but it's gonna be that way every weekend. We're gonna have to fight to create offense, but what we can control and what we've talked to our team about, is our workload and compete. If you learn to work every shift, and we compete on the puck a little more, it gives us a better chance to create offense."

The 'Cats remain at home this next weekend, welcoming the Arizona State Sundevils to Marquette on October 25th and 26th. The Snudevils just missed the top-20 last weekend, finishing 21st in the USCHO poll.

Dave Shyiak Post Game Interview

Cat Nips

• Altrichter led the team with 11 faceoff wins, followed by Jesse Tucker, Danny Ciccarello, and Renfrew with nine
• The Wildcats were a perfect 4/4 on the PK, but were 0/2 on the man advantage
• Tynan Ewart enters next weekend on a two-game point streak (1-1--2)

How It Happened
The Wildcats gathered the puck in its own end and went to clear it off the high glass. Tanner Edwards jumped up the left half-wall to grab the puck out of the air, dropped the puck to stick, and made a pass to Porter Schachle in the left circle. Schachle fired a snap shot over the blocker and past the ear of Ouellette to give the Seawolves a 1-0 lead.

The Wildcats tied the game up just under three minutes into the middle frame, as Hutchinson corralled a dump-in and picked up speed down the left side wall through his own end. Untouched, Aidyn crossed the blue line on a two-on-one before stepping into the slot and firing a wicked wrister past the glove-side ear of Orosz, finishing off his own end-to-end rush.

The teams skated four-on-four around the halfway mark, and Schiller was at the left-side offensive blueline to corral a missed shot. Joe made a nice spin move to beat his defender and find Ewart sneaking down the right slot. Tynan walked into the right circle and released a shot that beat Orosz over the pad and under the blocker on the far side.

As a Wildcat penalty was expiring, the Seawolves sent a stretch pass to send two of their men on a two-on-one. Schachle picked up his second of the night after finishing off a pass from Ben Anderson, and the teams skated two-all into the final period.

Karter McNarland got to a loose puck behind the net and blindly threw a pass through the slot that landed perfectly on the tape of Davis Goulker, who was unchecked inbetween the hashmarks and fired a shot over the blocker of Ouellette.

At about the halfway mark of the period, Ouellette made a sharp-angled save but couldn't smother the rebound, and Gunnar VanDamme was on the spot to find the rebound.

A heavy forcecheck from Altrichter and Romer caused a Seawolf defenseman to turn the puck over in his own zone. Renfrew gathered the loose puck and found Cliche, who fired a one-timer from just inside the blueline that beat Orosz, bringing the 'Cats within one.

The Seawolves were able to flip the puck to center, got a generous bounce, and Ben Anderson fired it home from center to seal the game at 5-3.