Taking on number 1 is always a challenge.  The Wildcats of the University School boys’ hockey team had that challenge Saturday night when they hosted the state’s top-ranked team, Appleton United, in a non-conference game at USM.   The Wildcats lost the game 4-1.

The Wildcats started off well, scoring the game’s first goal.  It came during a face off play.  Center Brandon McGill won the draw to Nick Epperson on the right boards.  Epperson wheeled around the top of the circle and passed the puck to Jerzey Judge at the center of the blue line.  Judge blasted a shot past Dylan Phinney, Appleton’s goalie at 9:19.

The Appleton players took control after that.  They outshot the Wildcats 48-18 in the game and scored the game’s final four goals, the first of which they tallied in the final seconds of the first period.

From a face-off in the Appleton zone, Matthew Gruber chipped the puck off the boards.  It caromed past a falling USM defenseman, sending Connor Zilsch and Lucas McKinnon off on a 2-on-1. Zilsch carried the puck deep into the USM zone and flipped it across the crease to McKinnon who immediately snapped a shot past Mac Schmidt, USM’s goaltender at 16:55.

Appleton took the lead late in the second period on a power play.  Off a face off draw in the USM right corner, the puck went to Kiernan Brosnan at the near point.  He sent the puck across the blue line to Michael Alfarro, who, in turn passed it to Zilisch in the left circle.  Zilsch centered it to Eric Bargholtz who had moved into the slot.  Bargholtz one-timed the puck past Schmidt at 14:26.

The Wildcats had to kill four penalties in the third period making it difficult to get any offensive pressure going against their guests. Appleton had time to score two more goals in the period.  The first came at 1:59.  Mitchell Lund at the point in the USM end and fired a shot on Schmidt.  The rebound popped to the ice just in front of Schmidt.  Liam Johnson snatched the puck as he swept past, and slid it inside the right post to give Appleton some breathing room.

The final goal of the game was scored at 6:05 of the third period when Appleton was on another power play.  In the USM zone, Zilsch stopped a USM clearing attempt at the right point.  He lined a pass across to Alfarro on the left boards.  Alfarro took a shot.  Schmidt saved it. Gruber was unguarded in front of the goalie, and he had time to take two swipes at the puck before knocking the rebound under Schmidt’s pads for the goal.

USM is 10-4-2 and Appleton United is 16-1.  The Wildcats play Hayward in a non-conference game on Friday, January 22nd at the Eagle River Sports Arena in Eagle River at 7:30 pm.