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By YVETTE LANIER

News Sports Writer

It seems when the IceDiggers begin to climb their way out of a hole, they pick up a shovel and get to digging again.

On Saturday night they had an extra hand - the Motor City Metal Jackets - helping them dig away.

Those mean and big Metal Jackets stomped on the IceDiggers' two-game win streak, defeating them 3-1 at Northern Lights Arena.

Maybe the IceDiggers were gassed from pulling out a 3-2 win in overtime the previous night against Motor City. Or perhaps it was their embarrassing 0-for-7 power play performance. Either way, Alpena head coach Jack Fritsche said he saw too many individuals out there on the ice and not enough team play.

"There's some individualism going on right now," Fritsche said. "Guys are out there and they haven't scored in one, two, or three games, and they're like, 'Oh jeez, I need to score tonight.' And when you play like that, you don't score and you don't play well.

"You cheat and you don't do the work that's necessary for your teammates."

Still high off of the excitement of Friday's shootout win, the IceDiggers John Fritsche found the net early, and scored a goal with assists going to Jordan Miller and Brandon Marshall, to give Alpena a commanding 1-0 lead. A goal by Steve Brancheau in the top of second period tied the game for Motor City. That goal sent the Metal Jackets on a scoring frenzy as they knocked in back-to-back goals. MacAulay McDonnell earned the first goal on a power play with assist going to R.J. Kleiman, and Cody Wydo delivered the game-winning goal in the second period for Motor City.

Goalie Randy Willis held the IceDiggers sticks scoreless for 40 minutes, ending the night with 27 saves on 28 shots. Alpena's Marco Wieser finished the night with 26 saves on 29 shots.

The loss brings the IceDiggers record to 5-12 in the North Division. After defeating the Metal Jackets in a 3-2 thriller on Friday, the IceDiggers turned around and came out flat the next night.Fritsche said he knows his team is capable of getting the job done, but that won't happen until they start executing the plays correctly.

"It's frustrating to watch it," he said. "It's not once. It's time and time again, and we're not executing what we're supposed to be doing."

"The things we discussed, being the game plan and the power play. We don't execute what we talk about. We don't execute what we practice. Guys just seem to do it their way and it's not working. It's just not working, and it's that simple.

"We need to come together as a team and try to execute what the game plan is."

During this week's practices he plans to separate the individuals from the team players. And he sends a strong warning to his players, those focused on individual stats and not team play, will be shown the door.

"We need to find out who's got heart, who wants to win and who's here for themselves," he said. "We're going to figure that out in practice this week."