Every win is big for the Wildcat hockey team right now, especially a road victory over archrival Hudson.

That’s what the Cats accomplished last Tuesday, Jan. 31, when they went into Gornick Arena and battled back from a 2-1 first period deficit to earn a 6-4 victory.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak and came before a pair of games against state-ranked teams. The Cats couldn’t keep the momentum going and lost to fourth-ranked Eau Claire Memorial, 7-1 Thursday, Feb. 2, and to No. 2 Superior, 9-0 on Saturday, Feb. 4.

Still, Wildcat head coach Brooks Lockwood, a former Hudson Raider, said it was good to pick up one out of three against three of the best teams in the state.

“Those were three tough games in one week for a young team, but to get one out of three against three top ranked teams in the state, that’s not bad,” he said. “A win against Hudson is always special for the kids. It was a great win for our seniors and they played very well during that game so they deserved it. It also gave the 12 underclassman that we have on the team some good experience and showed them that we can play with those teams when we play the right way.”

Hudson jumped out to a 2-0 lead but the Cats cut the deficit in half on a power play goal by Travis Mathiesen, assisted by Ben Harris and Jack Pilney, with 2:10 remaining in the first period.

Charlie Shafer tied the score with a goal at the 7:29 mark of the second, assisted by Mathiesen and Connor Maxwell, but Hudson regained the lead with a shorthanded goal less than three minutes later.

Kyle Hargrave answered at the 12:14 mark, assisted by Brady Stocker, to tie the score again at 3-3, and the Cats took the lead for good five minutes into the third period on a power play goal by Pilney, assisted by Mathiesen and Maxwell.

Maxwell extended the Wildcat lead to 5-3 with another power play goal with less than five minutes remaining with an assist from Casey Jerry. The Raiders scored with 2:19 remaining to make it a 5-4 game, but Jerry sealed the win with an empty-netter, assisted by Maxwell, in the final minute.

Wildcat goalie Corbin Renslow finished with 31 saves, including 14 in the first period alone, as Hudson outshot River Falls 35-18.

Thursday against Big Rivers Conference leader Eau Claire Memorial, the Old Abes scored just 28 seconds into the game and opened up a 4-0 lead before the Wildcats got a goal from Graden Gribble, assisted by Brady Stocker, just over a minute into the second period. But Memorial extended its lead to 5-1 at the end of the first period and tacked on a pair of third period goals to improve to 16-4-2 overall, 9-1-0 in BRC play.

Renslow finished with 31 saves as the Old Abes outshot the Wildcats, 38-26.

Saturday at Superior, the Spartans outshot the Wildcats 12-2 in the first period but couldn’t get one past Renslow until the final minute of the period to take a 1-0 lead at the end of one.

Superior erupted for six goals in the second frame and scored two more in the third to improve to 11-8-1.

Renslow and Logan Ottarson combined for 30 saves as Superior outshot the Cats 39-10.

“Against Superior and Eau Claire Memorial we got away from what gave us success against Hudson,” Lockwood said. “We need to do the little things right to compete with teams like that and we didn't do it. To their credit those are two excellent teams. Superior almost beat the number one rated team in Minnesota, Duluth East, two nights before we played so we knew that they were going to be ready.”

The Wildcats, now 6-15-1 overall, 3-8-0 in BRC play, wrap up the regular season this Thursday, Feb. 9, at Menomonie before opening WIAA regional play Tuesday, Feb. 14, at home against Spooner at 6 p.m.