Wildcats Right the Ship, Beat Westy 5-2 

At his 25th Reunion, Williston winger Alex Latkovski could have the greatest story ever told when he recounts his day against the Westminster Martlets on Monday, February 4, 2020.  The game saw the junior from Westmount, Quebec figure into all five of Williston’s goals as he scored a hat trick and accounted for two helpers.  The win helped Williston get off the skids, having lost their previous three.

Williston got on the board at the 5:06 mark of the period when junior defenseman Will Tripp received a pass from Jake Sacratini as he crossed over the Martlet blueline.  Tripp drove to the net and hit captain Tommy Harty driving to the far post.  Westminster goalie Greyson Pane made the save and let a rebound fall a few feet above the crease where Sacratini took a swipe at the puck that bounced off some shin pads and landed on a hard-cutting Latkovski’s stick who buried the rebound.  Latkovski netted his second of the game when he forced a turnover at his own blueline and, like a steam locomotive rolling down the track, he skated hard, pulling away from the Westy defensemen, faked a forehand shot and let a buttery backhand go that many-a-goalie would have struggled with.  Williston took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

In the second, Latkovski got into the giving business when a draw from Harty in the offensive zone was bobbled by a few Westy forwards and corralled by number nineteen who was able to get the puck toward the net.  Sacratini lay in wait on the side of the goal and banked a shot off the inside pad of Pane, putting the ‘Cats up 3-0.  Westy would get a goal with a little under two minutes remaining in the period.

In the third, Westminster made it 3-2 just five minutes into the period.  However, six minutes later and on the power play Tyler Varin received a pass from Sacratini in the middle of the ice; Varin quickly worked the puck to Tripp on the right hash mark who then made a quick pass to Harty cutting into the slot.  Harty let a low blast go that was deflected by Latkovski for the hat trick.  The final nail in the coffin came when d-man Hunter Wilson scooted a puck up to the half wall to Latkovski who chipped the puck into the neutral zone where Sacratini gathered it and buried a blue-line shot into a goalie-less net sealing the deal, 5-2.

Tonight, there were two game pucks given.  The first to Emile Savoie who earned his second win of the season and who played well, making 29 saves.  The other game puck went to Latkovski and his five-point night.

Williston has a quick turnaround playing the Loomis Chaffee Pelicans in Windsor, CT on Wednesday afternoon at 4:30.  Williston hasn’t beaten their neighbors to the south in quite some time and look to upend a solid 2019-2020 Loomis campaign.

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