Latin 15 Palatine 7 (Final)

7:30pm Jordan Himmel led Latin with 5 goals, Sam Kettlewell and Grant Wilkie each scored three times, and Steve Wickes and Connor Allen both had two goals. For Palatine, Chris Wolocha, Skylar Davis, and Kevin Wood each scored twice, while Mitch Tucker added one goal.

5:31pm Latin advances to the semifinals with a 15-7 win over Palatine. Stats and such a bit later as we now jump to the next blog entry for Lyons-Naperville Central at 5:45pm.

5:29pm Kevin Wood adds a late goal for Palatine and Chris Wolocha scores his first goal with 0:38 left to go as Latin's lead is now 15-6. Grzybek assists Wolocha on his second goal with 0:09 to go and Latin runs out the clock and wins 15-7.

5:25pm Kettlewell adds a goal from the outside to make it 15-4 as Palatine takes timeout with 2:01 to play.

5:23pm Wilkie assists Allen on a shot from outside seven meters as the Romans are able to sub in for most of their starters leading 14-4 with 2:46 left.

5:19pm Himmel starts the period out with a goal and a 13-4 Latin lead. After a few defensive stops for each side, Latin takes a timeout with 3:52 left to play.

5:13pm After a Palatine timeout, Fyfe and Blackham each make a save in the final minute. Ffye tosses a pass that Wilkie tips in at the buzzer as Latin takes a 12-4 lead with just one quarter remaining.

5:08pm Latin takes a timeout leading 10-4 midway through the third quarter. Himmel takes a pass from Steve Wickes and scores from the right post, making it 11-4 Latin. Fyfle deflects a shot out of bounds for the Romans, then makes another save to keep Latin up by seven. Three saves in a row for Fyfe with 2:31 to go.

5:02pm Himmel assists Kettlewell on an early goal as Latin takes a 9-3 lead. Skylar Davis gets a goal from the right side as Palatine answers right back, then Steve Grzybek makes a steal and Palatine counters. Fyfe comes out of the net to make a steal on Palatine's pass into set. Himmel turns his defender, stops, then fires a shot into the back of the net as the Romans go ahead 10-4.

-----------HALFTIME------------

4:46pm Palatine gets another powerplay chance, but Kettlewell makes a steal and the Pirates do not get a shot off. Blackham makes a save on a long shot as the halftime buzzer sounds.

4:54pm Allen makes a steal, Himmel draws a kickout, then assists Tim Wickes on a left-handed goal from the right side to increase the advantage to 8-2. Wood sweeps a shot wide of the post, but he makes a steal and assists Mitch Tucker on a breakaway to make it 8-3.

4:51pm After the timeout, Kevin Wood draws an ejection and scores to cut the lead to 6-2. The Pirates get another man-up situation, but Fyfe makes a key save to keep the Romans ahead by four. Himmel responds with a goal from the right side to make the score 7-2.

4:46pm Henry Fyfe makes a save, and Connor Allen scores on a skip shot from the left corner, leading to a Palatine timeout with 3:49 to go in the half.

4:45pm After winning the swimoff, Palatine's Mike Nocella draws a kickout, but Tim Wickes comes up with two field blocks on the man-up situation and the Pirates cannot score. Himmel turns his defender but rocks the post with a shot at two meters. Steve Wickes gets another steal. Mitch Tucker gets a steal but lobs a shot over the net on the counterattack. Steve Wickes drives in and puts home a pass from Wilkie to make it 5-1 Latin with 4:30 remaining in the second quarter.

4:39pm A Tim Wickes steal leads to a goal off a drive by Wilkie (assisted by Connor Allen), and Palatine misses at the end of the period and trails Latin 4-1 after the opening quarter.

4:36pm Steve Gryzbek makes a defensive stop, but Kettlewell gets his fourth steal to prevent a breakaway chance for Palatine. Gryzbek forces another turnover, but Tim Wickes grabs his second steal with under two minutes left in period one. Wilkie scores from the post on an assist from Steve Wickes to make it 3-1 with 1:28 to go.

4:33pm Sam Kettlewell makes a steal and scores an uncontested goal in the first 15 seconds and Latin leads 1-0. Kettlewell makes his second steal on the defensive end, which eventually leads to a Jordan Himmel goal from two meters (assisted by Grant Wilkie). Kettlewell earns steal #3 on defense, but Kevin Wood forces a turnover on the other end. Skylar Davis connects on an outside shot to get Palatine within one (2-1 - 5:09). Himmel draws an ejection at two meters, then draws a second kickout on the same play, but Spencer Blackham denies Wilkie's 6-on-4 shot to keep Palatine within one.

4:20pm The first boys' quarterfinal begins in less than 10 minutes. Palatine vs Latin. We will have live updates every few minutes with as much play-by-play as possible. The refs are getting the teams lined up and we crowd is slowly filling up the stands.

The starting lineups:

Latin - Henry Fyfe (goalie), Tim Wickes, Stephen Wickes, Grant Wilkie, Jordan Himmel, Sam Kettlewell, Ryan Arvin

Palatine - Spencer Blackham (goalie), Skylar Davis, Kevin Wood, Steve Gryzbek, Chris Wolocha, Mike Nocella, Mitch Tucker