The heartbreak of losing to Williamsville East two years in a row in the section finals is still fresh in the minds of the Kenmore East players. It’s evident in both the hard work the Bulldogs are putting in during their preseason practices this year as well as in the words they speak.
“It was pretty upsetting, two years in a row,” AJ Marinelli said. “I think we should have beat them, to be honest. We had a lot of opportunities that we didn’t finish on, like an open net and stuff, 2-on-1’s. I thought I played good up until that game. I thought I had a good season but didn’t play when it mattered.”
“It was a tough loss,” Cullen Smyth said. “I don’t think we gave it our all at the end. Fell short.”
Kenmore East coach Kyle Pray was still quick to give credit where it was due, even after the disappointment of a 2-0 loss at First Niagara Center. The Bulldogs advanced to the finals after a four-overtime 1-0 win over Hamburg in the semifinals.
“Last year, we were pleased actually with how well we did because we felt like we overachieved a little bit because really, the depth wasn’t there, but all those guys last year really stood up and played strong and fought to the end,” Pray said. “And we had the four-overtime game with Hamburg, and that was a big win for us. Will East had a little bit more of a senior class last year and a good team, so I was happy with the way we battled and gave it a run.”
The good news for Kenmore East this year is that they return the majority of last year’s team. Smyth and Marinelli both wore letters last season. And they’ll add two more talented senior forwards in Trevor Pray (Kyle’s son) and Anthony Tulipane, who spent last year with the Buffalo Jr. Sabres and Buffalo Regals, respectively, after playing their freshman and sophomore years for Kenmore East.
“We made it to the sectional final my sophomore year, and we lost to Will East 3-2,” Trevor Pray remembered. “Then last year I left the team and went to go play for the Jr. Sabres. But now I’m back, and I’m excited to come back and try to do something special this year.”
“I think it’s really good,” Tulipane said of being back, “because I think we have a great shot to win it all this year. We have a great team.”
Along with Hamburg and Williamsville East, Kenmore East will move up to play large schools during the regular season this year. They’re excited to face the challenge with much of the same team along with Trevor Pray and Tulipane.
“We have 10 returning seniors, and I think we’re gonna do good, moving into the large schools,” Trevor said. “We’re excited to compete with a lot of those schools because we haven’t really gotten the chance to show what we had recently, so I’m excited to do that and then try to win the small school title.”
“It’ll help our team a lot more because it’s tougher competition because I think the competition in large schools is way harder than the competition in small schools,” Marinelli said.
“I think it’ll help us be ready for the playoffs,” Trevor added.
Next year might be a concern when this year’s seniors graduate, but Kyle Pray is excited and confident for large school competition this season as well.
“It’s a two-year deal, so this year I think we’ll be able to compete,” he said. “We might not have the depth that some of them may have, but we’ll be able to compete, I think, and give each one of them a battle. Next year, I probably would tend to worry a little bit after we lose 10 or 11 seniors. Then that’s gonna be a little harder. But this year, I think we’ll be there. We’ll be in every one.”
Captains have not been announced yet, but each of the seniors has a key role, even if it’s just to keep the players around him accountable.
“I think every senior has a role, whether they’re captain or not captain,” Trevor Pray said. “Everybody brings something to the team that helps, and we all kind of keep each other not too cocky, and we all push each other to work hard in practice.”
With so many seniors, the Bulldogs want to win this year more than ever. It starts with proving themselves against the large schools and then finding out how they’ll fare in the playoffs.
“We’re setting our goals high,” Kyle Pray said. “Our first goal is to really do well against the big guns, especially St. Joe’s, Canisius, Will North, and everything throughout the year. And then when it comes playoff time, our goal is to win that small school section championship and then see where it goes from there.”
“I think we have a really good chance of winning it this year, especially after losing two years in a row,” Marinelli said. “It’s definitely gonna be a lot bigger this year, senior year, especially because almost our whole team is seniors.”
This year’s team boasts of speed, and they’re a complete team, with a solid group of forwards and defensemen to go along with goalies Brad Hermann and Chase Ford, who split time during the regular season last year before Hermann took over in the playoffs.
“I think we’ll be more of a wide open run-and-gun type team,” Kyle Pray said. “We got speed, and we got good offensive creativity, so I think you’re gonna see a lot of that this year. But in the meantime, we have a good solid couple pairs of defensemen that should guard the blue line well, and both our goalies are back from last year, so we feel comfortable with that as well. They’re both solid back there.”
The team’s biggest strength, according to Kyle Pray, is experience, but he stressed the importance of continuing to work hard no matter how much experience a player has.
“A lot of seniors, and we have some talented AAA players, which I think is gonna help a lot,” he said. “Guys who have played at a very competitive level, so when they bring that to the table, that’ll be the strong point. They just can’t get complacent and just think it’s gonna happen like that though.”
Tulipane echoed his coach’s words.
“I think we have a really talented veteran team, but we just need to put the work in, and we’ll be fine,” he said. “We should win a lot of games because we have a really good team if we put in the work.”
“We should go really far, but we have to put in work,” Smyth agreed.
Tulipane, Smyth, Marinelli, and Trevor Pray also agreed on the importance of pushing each other and the rest of their teammates to play their best and play as a team. And Kyle Pray could already see the hard work, teamwork, and the developing chemistry early in the second week of practices.
“We’re real excited,” the coach said. “We think this year we definitely have the talent to be able to go very far, but a lot of it’s going to depend on how well we come together as a unit and the chemistry and everything. It’s so far so good really, with what we see, and the guys are working hard so far and are committed to the team game.”
Kenmore East is scheduled to open the 2015-16 season against Williamsville East on Dec. 3 at 9 pm at the Northtown Center.Â