The St. Catherine University hockey team headed in to another Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) series hoping its top players could find a way to boost an offense that had scored just three goals in its last four conference match ups. If that happened, the Wildcats would stand a chance of breaking a five-game MIAC winless streak that extended back to Decemeber. 

Finally, the Wildcats got just what they needed from leading-scorer Megan Killmer (Savage, Minn./Burnsville) who ended her 12-game streak without a goal in a big way as she recorded all three goals in a huge 3-2 win over Bethel University Friday evening at Drake Arena in St. Paul. 

"This was an exciting game," said Head Coach Brad Marshall. "There were definitely highs and lows, but we battled and I couldn't be prouder of them as a group. Killmer had a big night, but so did many others who won't be in the scoring column. If I was in the stands, I would have been impressed." 

The game got exciting early, and the Wildcats found themselves facing a deficit quickly as Kalie Johnson beat Abbi White (Wyoming, Minn./Forest Lake) just 1:01 in on a set up from Caroline Kivisto to give the high-powered Royal offense a 1-0 lead. 

After allowing the Royals to control play early on, the Wildcats finally found a way to generate some offense and Killmer buried her first goal of her hat trick performance on a set up from Bailey Rasmussen (Grand Rapids, Minn./Grand Rapids) at the 14:18 mark of the first period to send the Wildcats into the break with a 1-1 tie. 

Both teams killed off penalties in the opening 15 minutes of the second period, but the Wildcats knew with another chance they could get their league-leading power play going. And that's just what happened on Killmer's second goal as she received a pass from Jordan Solheim (Thief River Falls, Minn./Thief River Falls) that caught the Royals off guard on a line change at 18:07. Killmer's third power play goal of the season helped lift the Wildcats to a confident 2-1 lead heading into the final 20 minutes. 

Then, in the third period, Killmer and Rasmussen found themselves in front of Bethel goalie Michelle Klimstra with a loose puck before Killmer tallied her third goal of the night to give the Wildcats a 3-1 lead with just over nine minutes remaining.

However, the Royals came on strong in the final minutes and pulled within one as the MIAC goal leader Kathryn Larson tallied her 13th of the season beating White on a pass from Lauren Kolak. It wasn't enough, though, as the Wildcats held off the late surge in handing the Royals their fifth MIAC loss of the season. 

White finished the game 21 saves in goal for the Wildcats and picked up her second win of the season, while Klimstra tallied 22 saves for the Royals in the offensively even matchup.

Killmer finished with a game-high three points and now ranks in the top six in the MIAC for goals scored (7) and 17th in points (11). Solheim and Rasmussen each picked up two assists on the night, while Randi Fabsits (Tinley Park, Ill./Victor J. Andrew) picked up her fifth assist of the season. 

With the win, the Wildcats move to 5-8-4 on the season and 3-5-2 in the MIAC with nine points and are just two points out of a tie for fifth place in the standings.The Wildcats and Royals will meet again Saturday for game two of the MIAC series scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Schwan's Super Rink in Blaine, Minnesota. 

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