For Kenmore East graduate Trevor Pray, the next chapter of his hockey career begins now.
Gone are the teammates he grew up playing alongside. Gone is his father from behind the bench. Pray won a state championship in his senior year with Kenmore East and was named to the All-Fed team and All-State team, and he was named the Division 2 player of the year for all of New York State.
But a state away in Massachusetts, where Pray will relocate this weekend, that’s all in the past. And while Pray proved himself enough to make the roster of the Walpole Express of the Eastern Hockey League, he’ll have to prove himself once again as a member of the team and, he hopes, as a player qualified to move on to play Division I or Division III hockey at the collegiate level.
“It’s gonna be different, but I think it’s gonna help — just push me harder and just get some different views from a different coach, so I think it’ll help a lot,” Pray said. “I’m definitely a little nervous about meeting the new guys, but hockey teams get along, so I’m excited to meet new guys.”
Pray attended tryouts — and qualified — for organizations other than Walpole, but the organization’s past success as a team and the number of players who have gone on to play elsewhere drew Pray there.
“They’re a good program,” Pray explained. “They’ve had some success in the past and finished fourth in the league last year, so I think it’s a good program to go to. I just heard good things about them, and I knew about the EHL, so I went and tried out there and made it.”
Pray is focused on developing as a player while also drawing attention from college coaches and taking advantage of his new coaches’ connections.
“They have a lot of commitments, and I know that they are very good at placing guys, and the coaching has very good development,” Pray said. “They’re just really good development coaches, and I’m excited to learn from them and learn new things. I know that they have a lot of connections with collegiate coaches.”
Those coaches include Buffalo’s own Cos Polino as well as Walpole general manager and head coach Jon Lounsbury, who was called upon by the Florida Panthers to run the majority of drills for their summer development camp.
As much as Pray looks forward to developing with Walpole, he knows that he wouldn’t have even developed as far as he has without the coaches and events of his high school hockey career.
“It just helped me,” he said. “Especially this year for East, playing a lot, I think it really developed my game a lot more, and I think I’m ready to move on to the next level.”
It was Pray who scored the game-winning goal in overtime to send his team to the Section VI small school finals.
It was Pray, again, who scored five goals in a 5-2 win in the Section VI finals to give his team a section championship.
And it was once again Pray who scored in overtime in the state championship game to bring home a state championship in his senior year at Kenmore East.
It’s moments like those that Pray doubts he’ll ever forget.
“First, Section VI finals, scoring five goals,” Pray said. “And then the state championship, obviously, just winning it with my dad.”
With his dad behind him and linemate AJ Marinelli beside him, Pray was nearly unstoppable. It will be an adjustment to move on without the two of them, not to mention the rest of his teammates, as Pray moves to Boston to advance his career.
“I’ll miss him a lot,” Pray said of Kenmore East linemate AJ Marinelli. “But we’ll keep in touch.”
During hockey season, Pray and Marinelli were nearly as inseparable as they were unstoppable.
“I’ll miss him a lot,” Pray said of Marinelli. “But we’re gonna keep in touch.”
During the summer, Pray played in the Fattey Hockey League at HarborCenter as well as a few tournaments, and he worked out every day, “hoping to get bigger and stronger. I think that’ll help my game a lot.”
Now, he’s as ready as he’ll ever be for the next chapter.
“Just working hard, and just hoping to get as many looks as I can down there — that’s what it’s all about,” Pray said. “It’s gonna be a little different, but I’m sure I’ll adjust, and hopefully I get a good billet family. I’m excited for the opportunity, and I know that hopefully it will bring me to the next level.”