Kenmore East’s 5-0 win over Hamburg on Dec. 27 was uncharacteristic of games between the two rivals. On Sunday evening, they showed what makes their rivalry so strong with a game that went to overtime before Kenmore East came away with a 6-5 win.
“Every time we play them, it’s pretty close,” Kenmore East’s AJ Marinelli said. “Last year they beat us twice and we went to overtime. Except the first time this year, but every other time we play them, it’s pretty close.”
“The last two years, it’s been us in the semifinals, and it was just good hard fought battles in every game, and they came to play today,” Justin Watson said.
“We’re both really good teams and we’ve had a little bit of a battle here and there, so either one of us can come out with the win on a given night, so it was good battle between both of us,” added Trevor Pray. “I’m glad that we came back with the W, though.”
Kenmore East took the first lead of the game 3:42 into the game when Marinelli scored, unassisted.
“I had a one-on-two,” Marinelli said. “Pretty sure my line changed, so I just tried it, and it worked.”
Exactly two minutes later, Hamburg captain Jason Lucarelli tied the game at one on the power play. Marinelli scored again late in the first, but it took Hamburg less than two minutes to tie the game once more when Josh Dake scored shorthanded.
Each team added another goal in the second period. Russ Riggio scored for Kenmore East just before the halfway mark. Anthony Tulipane won the faceoff and passed the puck to Riggio, who buried it.
“It was a great play by Tulipane off the faceoff, and I just tapped it in,” Riggio said.
But it was just a minute and eight seconds later when Lucarelli’s second of the game tied the score once more. The second period ended and the teams went to their respective locker rooms tied at three.
Kenmore East planned to come out hard in the third; they didn’t expect Hamburg to score twice before the period was halfway over and take a 5-3 lead.
“Came into the third period, we were planning to jump on them, but they scored two goals, and I wasn’t too sure what was gonna happen,” Marinelli said. “I was [nervous], especially with like seven, six minutes coming up. Wasn’t too sure what was gonna happen.”
Kenmore East switched goalies after the fifth Hamburg goal. Brad Hermann replaced Chase Ford, but Kenmore East coach Kyle Pray didn’t blame Ford. It was more about momentum and taking a moment to talk to his team.
“It was nothing on Chase; we just made the goalie change to change momentum a little bit and just to have the guys collect their thoughts a little bit,” Pray said. “And over there, we said, we still got seven, eight minutes left. Let’s battle here and see what happens.”
Momentum did shift after the break, and a Hamburg penalty with 6:02 left in the third gave Kenmore East even more momentum. Cullen Smyth scored on the power play, and suddenly Kenmore East was within one.
Justin Watson took care of that with less than a minute to play. With just 44 seconds on the clock, Tulipane’s second assist of the game led to a game-tying goal and sent the game to overtime.
“It was all the team passing around, and it happened to go in,” Watson said. “We knew it was gonna be a battle and it was gonna go all the way to the end, and it just worked out.”
Depth is something Kenmore East has lacked so far this season in many of its games. The goals by Watson and Riggio showed that that may be changing.
“That’s something we keep trying to emphasize, that we get that input from all three lines,” Pray said. “And we know we’re a better team like that, so it was good. It was good to see Russy and Watson do well tonight, and they seem to be starting to pick it up now.”
“It was nice just to see the depth chart get a little bit wider,” said Trevor Pray.
Trevor Pray is one of the players who has been scoring consistently all the season, but regulation ended without him putting the puck in the net. Finally, 2:26 into overtime, it was Trevor who scored the game-winning overtime goal to put Hamburg away.
“He was having trouble finding his legs a little bit tonight, but it was good he kept plugging away too, and I was glad to see him get the winner at that point,” coach Pray said.
“I was just trying to get pucks to the net and it wasn’t getting through, but then finally, at the end there, I just tried to get it on net, hopefully for a rebound or just to go in, and it did,” Trevor said. “I was just happy that we got the win.”
It may have been tougher than expected, but Hamburg has come a long way since the first time the two teams faced off this season, and it showed.
“They came out to play,” Watson said. “They came out real hard, and we had to step up and match their intensity.”
“I just want to compliment them,” coach Pray said. “They played a very good game. From the first time we played them, I thought their forechecking was excellent. They won a lot of one-on-one battles against us. They were the better team for the first two periods tonight, without a doubt. They took it to us, and it was good we kind of collected ourselves a little bit and fought back. I was proud of our guys that way.”
He’s confident that the progress that Hamburg has made this season will make the team a playoff contender once again this season.
“They’re a good team, and they’re gonna be a playoff contender just like us,” he said. “I thought they were a little bit stronger on the puck tonight, and I thought their effort, just line after line, was very good tonight. They seem to be playing a little bit more of a team game too, as well, so that’s to their credit.”
The win put Kenmore East ahead of both Clarence and Williamsville East in the standings, and the players hope their success will continue when they face off against Lancaster on Saturday.
“We just gotta keep it going, keep getting pucks to the net, play better defense, and that’s about it,” Trevor said.
“Hopefully this will help us come out big next game against Lancaster,” Marinelli said.