Conant pulls out victory at Fremd

In a key Mid-Suburban West matchup at Fremd on Thursday, Conant eked out a 7-6 victory to jump into first place in the Mid-Suburban West standings.

The Cougars led 6-3 at the half, but Fremd didn’t allow a goal in the third quarter and scored 2 of its own to pull within 6-5.

The Vikings then tied it in the fourth before Brennen Nagorzanski provided the game-winner for Conant with 4:15 left in the fourth quarter in a man-up situation.

Jake Nelson and Nagorzanski each finished with 2 goals, and Matt Engebretsen, Jon Burke and Kazuki Morita also scored for the Cougars (10-2, 6-1).

All of Fremd’s scoring came from Connor Helsdingen and Luke Stark, with 3 goals each.

“We still haven’t played what I’d call a complete game, with all four quarters being what they could be,” said Conant coach Tim Daniel, “but we definitely had a highly motivated group of guys. Kyle Bradberry and Jon Burke were basically running our timeouts, making sure everybody understood what need to be happening for us.”

Fremd (14-6, 5-2) and Palatine (10-5, 5-2) are tied for second place in the West.

Earlier this season, Fremd had earned a 1-goal victory in a game played at Conant.

Palatine 18, Schaumburg 4: The host Pirates produce a dominant two-way effort to stay in the thick of the MSL West race. Christian Kalfas (5 goals), Alex Brons and Omar El Hoffi (4 apiece) and Krystian Kalev (3) led the offensive effort, and goalie Peter Blackham made 4 saves for Palatine.

Hoffman Estates 7, Barrington 4: Adam Pasnicki led the way with 4 goals to help visiting Hoffman Estates (12-9, 3-4) earn an MSL West victory. Sang Han (2 goals) and Luke Iehl also scored for the Hawks, and Logan Gizel stopped 17 shots.

Four players scored for Barrington: J.P. Sherry, Paul Bator, Matt Gouskos and Sam Miseyka.

Wheeling 14, Rolling Meadows 1: Seven players scored as the visiting Wildcats pulled out an MSL East victory.