OUT WITH THE OLD
One win. Fourteen losses. One tie.
That’s just Kenmore West’s 2014-15 record on paper. Just like anything else, there is more to the story than just wins and losses, but what the record can tell is that it was a frustrating season for the Blue Devils.
“Last season wasn’t as bad as the record portrayed it to be. We were in a lot of games. Last year we played Williamsville East, who ended up going to state finals last year to three-to-two, four-to-two games where both games that we were in until the third period,” said Rob Roszak, who was an assistant coach with last year’s team under Tim Knight. “We weren’t in good enough condition to get that goal to get us ahead in the game. We were in most games last year. We were in a lot of them and a break here, a break there, we could have won a few hard games. I think we were competitive in probably 90 percent of the games last year.”
But while they were competitive on the ice in games, the locker room and practices were a different story, and a few of this year’s returning players didn’t sugarcoat last year’s issues.
“Last year was a rougher season, but atmosphere wasn’t too good, and a lot of things went out of control,” defenseman Adam Pray said. “I feel like not everyone took it as serious as they could have been.”
“It was definitely a growing experience for the team and myself in general,” goaltender Ryan Mooney said. “This year’s more of a rebuild, so we kind of struggled last year with team morale and effort and attitudes.”
Defenseman-turned-forward Nolan Waggoner felt that he gave his all last season but that his teammates didn’t always do the same, which created friction between him and his teammates.
“I thought I made people better by trying as hard as I did,” Waggoner said. “Some people might not have liked it, but it’s what I gotta do … Might as well try in practice and it shows up in a game, so might as well practice how you play.”
Roszak felt that last year’s issues with morale among the team went right up to the coaching staff and accepted some responsibility as well.
“I think part of the problem with the negativity last year came down to losing games, and that kind of permeated to some of the players, but I shoulder some of the blame myself in terms of the negativity,” Roszak said. “When you get down so much sometimes and you lose games, it’s kind of hard to get up.”
And he sympathized with Mooney’s reaction to first being pushed suddenly into a starting role and then with not getting the goal support he needed to get a single win.
“I think it was out of frustration for him last year,” Roszak said. “It’s hard to go out there every night and not win, and it was hard on him. We had a senior goalie last year who quit in the beginning of the season, and he was supposed to be the one that was supposed to carry the load for the team last season, and he had a falling out with coach Knight. And Ryan was kind of pushed — ‘you’re the goalie now.’ He went from being, ‘I’m the backup’ to being the starter. And to Ryan’s credit, he played well. It wasn’t his fault that we lost games; it was a lack of goal-scoring.”
IN WITH THE NEW
Roszak is ready to put last season in the past and begin a fresh season as he takes the reins as head coach.
“Everything’s a new year, everything that happened last year was last year, this year is this year,” Roszak told his team right away.
And the new attitude has already spread to the players as well. Mooney was the first to admit that change in attitude begins with each individual, and he’s already putting in his best effort to change his. The starting goalie job isn’t guaranteed to be his this season, but he’s forced himself to focus on what’s best for the team as a whole this year.
“I definitely had an attitude adjustment, and I’m trying to become more of a leader on the team and be a team player,” Mooney said. “Definitely want to work more with the teammates on communication and just overall attitudes and morale.”
Pray has already seen improvement in attitude and morale among his teammates.
“Definitely the attitude has already changed, and we’re trying to change from last year to try and win more games,” he said.
Higher morale will also come with a few more wins, of course, and for Roszak, the key to those wins is better conditioning.
“We want these guys to be in better condition,” he said. “I think too many games were lost last year because of fatigue, and I want these guys to be in the best condition they can be so when it gets to the third period and we need a goal, we’re gonna be stronger than the other team physically and mentally.”
Along with that, Roszak already likes what he can see of his team’s defense and speed. Pray is one of seven strong defensemen returning from last year’s team with more experience and, Roszak hopes, in better condition than last season.
“He’s one of our top defensemen,” Roszak said of Pray. “He’s quick; he can handle the puck very well. I think our strength this year is gonna be our defensive core.”
“My role is definitely playing solid defense and keeping the puck out of the back of the net,” Pray said. “I might not be the loudest in the locker room, but I definitely lead by example, try and be a good role model for everybody else on the team.”
Waggoner also adds a defensive aspect up front. He made the switch from defenseman to forward last season and has adjusted well.
“[Waggoner] was one of the top penalty killers on our team last year,” Roszak said. “He’s very good in his own zone, very good defensive kind of forward.”
Roszak is not only excited about the team’s defense this year but also its speed.
“I would say that we’re a quick team; we have a lot of fast guys,” Roszak said. “I want them to be aggressive on the forecheck because I want to use our speed to be aggressive on the forecheck. So that’s what our hope is this year is to be quick, be aggressive, be on the other team. We’re not big in size, but we’re quick and we want to be aggressive.”
The Blue Devils add more speed this season with Josh Logan, a transfer from St. Joe’s, and Alex Militello, who played JV last season. They’ll join Ben Serrano to form this year’s top line, and Roszak hopes that their speed will be key.
“Josh Logan, Alex Militello, and Ben Serrano are quick guys on the same line so they can be aggressive,” Roszak said. “We’d like to have them play against the other team’s top line and kind of neutralize them with their quickness and stuff, so as we get into games, we’ll see how that goes, but that’s the plan.”
The division between last year’s seniors and younger players is no longer an issue for the Blue Devils, and that’s one more reason to be excited for this season. Kenmore West has only had a JV team for the past two seasons, but two years ago the team was the state runner-up. Those players developed together and grew together as a team, and now most of them are playing on the varsity team together.
“I think that this group is a closer group than last season,” Roszak said. “This year, these guys have played together before as a team, most of them, so they have had success. So hopefully that success at a JV level will come to the varsity level for us.”
The Blue Devils have high expectations for this season: they want to start by winning their division.
“The winner of our division gets the fourth seed in the playoffs and gets a bye, so that’s the immediate goal this year is to win our division and see where it goes,” Roszak said. “I think if we win a few games, we’re gonna surprise a few teams in the small school division this year.”
“I really think we can do really well,” Waggoner said. “I think we can definitely win our league that we’re in and then hopefully make it to First Niagara Center.”
“I definitely want to go to the championship,” Mooney said. “I know we can do it. Everyone believes in themselves, so that’s the goal. I think we need to put in a lot of hard work and effort. From the first couple practices, we definitely have shown that, so I definitely believe we can do it.”
And of course, they’ll need strong teamwork. Mooney was the first to point that out.
“We play as a team at all times,” he said. “No one’s more important than the other. I’m in net, but I’m talking to everyone on the ice. My job is just as important as everyone else’s.”
Kenmore West is scheduled to open its season Nov. 30 as it hosts Frontier at 8 pm at the HarborCenter.