The St. Catherine University hockey couldn't have asked for a better start to the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) season with a solid win over Hamline University Friday evening, but knew the second game of the series would be a tough after the Pipers gave the Wildcats a tough test. Despite taking an early lead on the power play, the Wildcats' couldn't hold on and settled for a 1-1 tie with the Pipers Saturday evening at Oscar Johnson Arena in St. Paul. 

The Wildcats may have gotten on the board first against the Pipers and held them scoreless through the first 30:55 of the game, but were outshot 40-23 by the Pipers and gave up four power play opportunities. However, the Wildcats managed to keep a perfect 100 percent penalty kill record on the year shutting down the Pipers on all four chances with Kristen Pechacek (Park Rapids, Wis./Chequamegon) making a huge impact in her first collegiate appearance in goal stopping 39 Piper shots. 

After leading the Wildcats in the opening weekend of play and recording the game-winner Friday, Megan Killmer (Savage, Minn./Burnsville) continued to prove her senior season might be her best yet as she helped the Wildcats go 1-for-2 on the power play when she tallied her fourth goal of the season at the 14:55 mark of the first period on a setup up from Jordan Solheim (Thief River Falls, Minn./Thief River Falls). 

Following Killmer's power play tally, the Wildcats killed off a power play opportunity for the Pipers and held them scoreless until the Pipers top returner Jordan Verleye found a way to beat Pechacek on a set up from Chelsea Koehn and Jenny Magill to tie the game at 1-1 in the second. 

In the third period, Pechacek helped the Wildcats stay alive stopping all 13 shots while her offense managed to tally nine shots on Katie Beckman. Unfortunately, the Wildcats couldn't find a way to beat Beckman again, despite an extra five minutes of overtime play.

Killmer led the Wildcats with four shots and now has six points on the season to led the team thanks to her power play tally. Bailey Rasmussen (Grand Rapids, Minn./Grand Rapids) also had three shots on goal. 

With the win, the Wildcats are now 2-1-1 overall and open conference play 1-0-1. The Wildcats will return to conference action next Friday as they travel to Minneapolis to take on an Augsburg College squad that also picked up three points this weekend with a win and tie with Bethel University. Friday's game is set for 7 p.m. game and the Wildcats return home Saturday for a 2 p.m. game two with the Auggies at Drake Arena in St. Paul. 

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