The frustrations of the beginning of the season are a thing of the past for AJ Marinelli and the Kenmore East hockey team. Marinelli couldn’t find the back of the net in the season opening 2-1 loss to Williamsville East or in last weekend’s tournament.
On Thursday, he found it twice and came close a third time. And on Saturday night, Marinelli found it three times for a hat trick as the Bulldogs defeated Frontier 5-1.
Kenmore East coach Kyle Pray did his homework and watched some of Frontier’s game against Williamsville East on Thursday night. Although the Bulldogs and Falcons hadn’t faced each other recently, Pray had a good idea of what to expect.
“We did watch them against Will East the other night, and so the one thing we noticed about them is they play a smart game, especially the other night,” Pray said. “I thought they limited Will East in the middle of the ice and kept to the outside, which I thought helped. So we knew we had to get them to the middle of the ice today and get opportunities from there, which I thought we did for periods one and three.”
Defenseman Cullen Smyth took a simple approach.
“I was pretty confident,” Smyth said. “We just had to come out and play as a team and do what we had to do.”
Marinelli hadn’t forgotten the 2-1 loss to Williamsville East when he heard that the Flames lost to Frontier on Thursday night.
“Seeing that they beat Will East, we weren’t too sure,” Marinelli said. “But we played one of our best first periods. After that, we kind of let off and started to get a little scared, but then we came out in the third and basically put them away.”
Marinelli was responsible for the Bulldogs’ quick start as he put his team up 1-0 just 2:40 into the first with a power play goal and an assist from Trevor Pray. Anthony Tulipane added to the lead 8:50 into the first, and Trevor picked up another assist.
“Trevor made a good play, passed it over, put it home,” Tulipane said.
Kenmore East carried a 2-0 lead into the second period, but Frontier’s Logan Warner scored with 4:29 remaining in the second to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 2-1. They saw the second period as their weak one, and Pray says they’re still working to eliminate that and play a complete game. Everything else he saw, though, he liked.
“We’re real happy with it,” Pray said. “We’re making some good strides. We’re still trying to throw together that complete 45 minutes, but definitely liked the way how we came up the ice a little bit more together as a team. More puck movement, more movement away from the puck, and I think our offense is tough to stop when we do those things, and that kind of showed today with a number of guys finding the back of the net.”
It was less than two minutes into the third when Marinelli scored again. It was another power play goal assisted by Tulipane and Trevor Pray. And it was the opposite of the goals Marinelli felt he should have had earlier in the season; he didn’t think this one went in.
“I thought it hit the post and then the other post and didn’t go in, but I saw the ref signal it,” Marinelli said.
It was Trevor’s turn to score just a few minutes later, at the 5:05 mark of the third period. And Marinelli had the assist.
Kenmore East failed to score on numerous chances through the third period, and Pray would like to see a few more players add their names to the score sheet.
“I wish we would have buried a few more of those because some guys, there’s a couple guys still looking for that first one,” Pray said. “And they could have had their chances there, but we’ll continue to work on that as well.”
Marinelli waited until there were 52.8 seconds remaining in the third period to complete his hat trick. The assists, of course, came from Trevor and Tulipane.
“Pretty excited,” Marinelli said of the hat trick. “Especially since I didn’t on Thursday.”
“I thought he had a real good game today,” coach Pray said. “He’s got that natural touch, and that’s why I know he was a little frustrated after the first couple games. And now he’s finding that scoring touch again, so it was nice to see him get the hat trick. But at the same time, he picks his head up really well and he finds other guys as well, too.”
Trevor finished the game with one goal and assist on each of the four other goals, which was different from Thursday’s game, when it was his turn to get the hat trick.
“It was good,” he said. “I thought I had a good first and third period. I could have played a little bit better in the second, but I’m glad I made stuff happen today and got my team the W.”
For Trevor and Marinelli, it’s easy to “make stuff happen.” They play travel hockey together as well, and although Tulipane wasn’t on their travel team this season, Trevor has enough experience to feel comfortable with him as well.
“It’s helpful because we just know where each other is,” Trevor said of playing with Marinelli. “We just know where we’re gonna be and stuff, so it helps a lot, just knowing. And then Anthony, I played with him before on a line too for travel, and I think we both know where we are too. We both have lots of speed, so we use that to our advantage.”
And their line continues to use that speed and comfort with each other to produce.
Behind them, Cullen Smyth and Joey Spataro anchor the defense, and Saturday night they allowed just 19 shots.
“We kept them to the outside on this big rink and kept them out of the middle,” Smyth explained.
Frontier is a physical team, and Smyth responded to that as well.
“Match it,” was his approach. “Exceed it, honestly.”
The win improved Kenmore East’s league record to 2-1, which puts them just a point behind Williamsville East for first place in Division 2.
“It’s a good win,” Tulipane said. “I think we move up in the standings a little bit. It’s a good team win.”
“I knew that we had to get the W to come in and be ahead in the small school division, so I’m glad we got it,” Trevor said.
“It was big,” Smyth said. “We’re coming back.”
But the Bulldogs don’t have too much time to dwell on the win. They’re scheduled to play St. Joe’s next Sunday, and they have a week to prepare and practice for that game.
“I think it’s gonna help leading into the Joe’s game with lots of confidence,” Trevor said. “I think this week at practice, we still gotta work on some stuff, but I think that coming into the Joe’s game, I think we can give them a battle.”
“The win is pretty big,” Marinelli said. “Now we just gotta bring it against St. Joe’s next Sunday.”