Kenmore West has put last season firmly in the past as the Blue Devils have won five of their last six games — the sixth was tie — with a deep and hardworking team. They don’t have a superstar to score every night, but they’ve learned to work hard and work together to come out on top.
The latest win was a 4-1 over previously undefeated West Seneca West, Kenmore West coach Rob Roszak’s alma mater, on Monday night.
“It was a great team effort tonight, and that’s what we are,” Roszak said. “We don’t have a Zak Klinko or a Curtis Vivian or a stud player that’s gonna score us a goal every game. We have four good lines, seven good D, three good goalies; we are the definition of what a hockey team is. We can put any line out there, and they’ll go out there, and they can do their job, what they’re supposed to do, and I think that’s what makes us a very dangerous team.”
Curtis Vivian is North Tonawanda’s leading scorer this season, and Klinko is the player that West Seneca West can depend on to score often as well. Monday night was no different than normal in that regard, as Klinko scored 5:31 into the first to give the Indians a 1-0 lead.
But the goal was exactly what was needed to wake up the Blue Devils. It happened slowly at first, but in the second period, Kenmore West came out strong and fast. Ben Serrano tied the game just 14 seconds into the second period.
“Beginning of the first period, we came out a little slow,” Serrano said. “Then after the goal, it kind of sparked us up, and we knew we could beat this team, come out hustling, give it our best, don’t give up, and just keep playing. Came into the second period, coming out hard, wanted to get that first goal — game changer — and just carry it from there.”
“We came out a little sluggish in the first period, but I think we found our feet in the first and we kind of took it to ’em in the second,” Roszak said. “And it was a back-and-forth game, but I thought we took advantage of the chances that we had, and good things happen when you put pucks to the net, and that was improved tonight. Serrano’s goal just came out of nowhere. Just kind of flicked it at the goal, and it went in. Coach Vogel and I are always telling the kids, you can’t score if you don’t put pucks on net, so they did a great job tonight of doing the game plan.”
“I just, off the faceoff, got the puck, went in hard to the corner, took the body, put the puck on net, and it just kind of went in,” Serrano explained.
Just 1:03 later, Alex Militello scored, and suddenly the game looked entirely different. The Blue Devils were showing that yes, they could beat anyone, even the undefeated Indians.
“We found, after a while, that we could play with these guys,” Roszak said, his excitement growing as he continued. “And they scored first with a nice shot, but I think we found that if we pressured them, that we can play with these guys. And once we got more confidence as the game went on, we found out that yes, we can beat these guys.”
“Felt good to get one,” Militello said of his goal. “I just kind of wanted to get the puck to the net and see what would generate off of it, and it ended up going in. It felt good, and it all started from a good breakout and good teamwork.”
And it felt even better knowing he had the go-ahead goal and eventual game winner, as he watched the momentum shift and the Kenmore West bench come to life.
“It felt good to get the goal and bring us up again,” Militello said. “Brought us all together, put energy through the bench, and it was good.”
Jake Green scored on the power play less than two minutes after Militello, George Ciancio added to the Blue Devils’ lead with a goal 2:14 into the third, and Kenmore West carried the 4-1 lead to the end.
“We just kept working hard and getting pucks to the net, and a lot of team play, and it caused us to keep putting goals in,” Militello said.
Patrick Gourlay was part of a strong defense that held the Indians to just one goal, but he was quick to credit goaltender Matt Bogacki, who finished with 26 saves as he earned the win for Kenmore West.
“Matt Bogacki stood on his head today,” Gourlay said. “He looked really good, and we were just playing good team hockey.”
“Matt Bogacki did a great job in goal today,” Roszak said. “He kind of made the saves he had to make, and overall, everybody on that team played wonderfully today. So I can’t really point to any one person that did any better than anyone else.”
“It’s really big, really big,” Serrano said. “It was a good win for our coach. He is an alumni from West Seneca West, and he really wanted this win, so we were excited to get it for him.”
“In my four years with the [Kenmore West] program, we’ve never beaten [West Seneca West] before, and they’ve kind of taken it to us,” Roszak said. “I think one year they beat us like 11-2 or something like that, so it’s always good. I have a lot of friends, and my family’s up there in the stands today, so it’s always good to get a win against the old alma mater.”
“It’s a really big win,” added Gourlay. “Probably just gonna go in the locker room and blast some ‘Downtown’. It’s like our battle song, really.”
The Kenmore West players were elated as they showed once again what they’re capable of when they work together.
“We expected an even game,” Serrano said. “We can keep up with any team in the league, I know that for a fact, as long as we give it one hundred percent and we play to our level and play hard.”
“On any given night, if we play our game, we can beat anybody,” Roszak said. “I think we showed some of the teams in Division 3, you can’t take us lightly. We’re gonna go out there, we’re gonna put effort in every night.”