BLAINE, MINN. – Twelve days is a long time to wait between games, especially for the St. Catherine University hockey team. After almost two weeks of no games and just practice, St. Kate's was ready to get back on the ice for Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play. Unfortunately, the Wildcats return to conference play against the Bethel University Royals did not go as well as the team hope. Despite offensively outplaying Bethel for most of the game, St. Kate's was plagued by inconsistency in the third period and lost the game by a score of 4-3.

"We are still looking for 60 minutes of good, solid, responsible hockey," hockey head coach Brad Marshall said after the game. "We had some chances but made few too many mistakes, which Bethel took advantage of."

Still, despite the final outcome, the well-rested Wildcats came out strong against the defending MIAC regular season champions in the first period. In fact, St. Kate's outshot Bethel 10-11 in the first 20 minutes of play but were unable to find the back of the net. That all changed with 14 seconds remaining in the period. Just when it looked like the first was going to end in a 0-0 draw, Karly Nelson (East Grand Forks, Minn. / East Grand Forks) found Anna Carmen (Lutsen, Minn. / Cook County) in front of the net to put the Wildcats up 1-0 at 19:46 in the first period.  

St. Kate's defense was just as strong as its offense in the opening period of play. Senior goalie Abbi White (Wyoming, Minn. / Forest Lake) sent back all 10 shots she faced in the opening period while her offense looked to give her the lead. However, after nearly two periods of flawless play, the Royals Megan O'Brian scored a shorthanded goal at 18:25 in the second period, tying the game at 1-1.

With the score tied, the Wildcats came out firing in the third period, determined to regain the lead it held for the majority of the game. It looked like St. Kate's finally took the lead for good at 1:28 in the third period when Morgan Tentis (Victoria, Minn. / Chanhassen) and Jordan Solheim (Thief River Falls, Minn. / Thief River Falls) connected to score, giving the Wildcats a 2-1 lead in the third period.

Unfortunately, Bethel answered under a minute later, scoring the game tying goal at 2:37 in the period. The game stayed tied at 2-2 for the next five minutes of play, but just like before, it was St. Kate's that took the lead. This time, it was Laken Muller (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley) who scored what seemed to be the game-winning goal at 8:33, again on an assist from Solheim.

Just like before, though, the Royals managed to answer with a goal of their own. Bethel took advantage of the Wildcats mistakes on defense and scored exactly three minutes after Muller, tying the game at 3-3. Sadly for St. Kate's, history was not on its side. Despite scoring the game-leading goal three other times in the game, the Wildcats were unable to do it again, and the Royals eventually took a 4-3 lead with an even strength goal at 13:19.

Still, there was plenty of time for St. Kate's to mount a comeback in the third period. With 3:20 remaining in the game, the Wildcats had their best chance to tie the game, as Bethel's Kylie Guimont was sent to the penalty box for hooking. For two minutes, St. Kate's generated several opportunities to score on the power-play but was unable to convert them, eventually falling 4-3 at the end of regulation.

With the loss, the Wildcats overall record falls to 3-6-0 and they now hold a 1-4-0 record in MIAC play. St. Kate's will return to the ice tomorrow when it hosts the Bethel Royals at 4 p.m. in Drake Arena.