ALPENA, MI - Negaunee's Ryan Kerkala stopped 41 of the Wildcats' 42 shots in a 3-1 Miners victory on Friday night at Northern Lights Arena.  The Miners took advantage of some sloppy play by the Wildcats early and jumped out to a 2-0 lead.  

Riley Luokkala opened the scoring 4:30 into the game when his point shot found its way past Jimmy Bolanowski.  The Miners extended their lead on Jack Mattias's first goal of the game with seven minutes remaining in the period when Mattias won a face-off deep in the Alpena zone and was able to beat Bolanowski. 

Alpena finally found the back of the net with 4:21 left in the 2nd Period when Anden Marceau skated past a pair of Miner defenders and finally beat Kerkala for his second goal of the season.  The rest of the night belonged to Ryan Kerkala who fought off every Wildcat attempt to tie the game, including a Blaise Keller break-a-away late in the game.  Mattias netted his second goal of the game when he cleared the puck the length of the ice and into the empty Wildcat net with 35 seconds left.

Alpena (0-3-0) will play Sault Ste Marie in the consolation game of the Thanksgiving Tournament at 12pm on Saturday.