Trevor Pray was happy to get back on the score sheet after a three-game absence. He made his return to the scoring column with a hat trick on Thursday night in a 4-0 win over Clarence. His linemate AJ Marinelli assisted all four goals as the Bulldogs clinched the No. 1 seed in the small school playoffs.
“[Clarence is] a hard team to play against, and we knew that tonight, if we won we would clinch first place, so we just came out strong and got the W,” Pray said.
“We knew they were a strong team,” said goaltender Chase Ford, who had the shutout in net for Kenmore East. “Everybody knew they were gonna come out hard. They played a good game against us.”
“I just thought if we played a good team game, we could come out with the win,” said defenseman Joey Spataro. “That’s just what we did.”
After a scoreless first, defenseman Cullen Smyth scored just over a minute into the second to give Kenmore East a 1-0 lead, assisted by Pray and Marinelli. Pray’s first of the game came with just over two minutes left in the second off a beautiful pass from Marinelli, and he added two more in the third to complete the hat trick. Marinelli and Smyth assisted Pray’s second goal, and Anthony Tulipane and Marinelli assisted the third.
“The first one, AJ just passed it beautifully, and then the second one I got another rebound from AJ, and then the third one, Tulipane just slid it over backdoor, and I just pounded it in,” Pray explained. “It was nice to just get it back and I had a three-game drought, so it was nice to get four points tonight and get back on the leader board.”
Pray was just as happy for his linemate as he was for himself to break out of his offensive slump.
“I was just happy that I just got back into it — me and AJ,” he said. “He just set me up on a lot of the goals, so it was nice for both of us to get back on the point board.”
Chase Ford earned his second shutout of the season in net, but the way his team played in front of him made his job relatively easy. Only a save or two stuck out in his mind following the game.
“The first period, there was a shot in front of the net — I think our team played real good the whole game,” Ford said. “We had a really good offense the first and second period, and then we started slowing down in the third, but overall I think we had a really good game.”
But he made the saves he needed to make, and the shutout was still something he was proud of.
“It’ll look good on the stats; that’s what I’m looking forward to,” Ford said.
“I just thought he had a solid game,” Spataro said. “He could see the puck well. We cleared guys out so he could see the puck, and he was just making the saves, and that’s what we needed.”
Kenmore East has been working on playing a team game, and Spataro felt that the Bulldogs did that on Thursday.
“The forwards were really moving the puck well; the D were moving the puck out of the zone pretty good; overall good team game.”
And with the win, Kenmore East clinched the No. 1 seed in this year’s small school playoffs over Hamburg and Williamsville East, whose battle for the No. 2 seed won’t end until the final game of the regular season on Saturday.
The past two years, Kenmore East has lost to Williamsville East in the Section VI finals at First Niagara Center. The Bulldogs want this year to be different.
“That takes a load off our back,” Ford said of earning the first seed. “Instead of playing a real tough team to get to First Niagara Center, we’ll have a little better shot at making it. We’re gonna keep playing hard, just make sure we get to First Niagara Center, and then we’ll take care of business when we get there.”
“It’s just big, just knowing that we got the first seed in the small schools now,” Pray said. “It’s nice just knowing that we got the bye for the prequarters and then coming into the quarters. We’ll see who we play, but I think we have a good shot.”