It would have been the perfect ending for Kenmore East hockey. The Bulldogs won the Division 2 New York State Championship on an overtime goal by Trevor Pray as his father watched from behind the bench. Coach Kyle Pray was named Division 2 New York State Coach of the Year while his son was named Player of the Year.
“It’s a year I’ll never forget,” Kyle Pray said. “Whether something can top that again, I don’t know. I would love it to, but it was just an experience of a state championship with my son on the team and just the way it went down in overtime in the final. And the run and some of the ups and downs, especially with a group of guys that I’d been with four a long time as a coach coming up. So it was just a very special year, one that I’ll always remember for the rest of my life.”
“It was an unforgettable season,” said senior defenseman Sam Balesteri. “It was a fun group of guys. It’s gonna be weird this year without having AJ [Marinelli] around, Cullen [Smyth] around, Joey [Spataro] around, Trevor, Tulip [Anthony Tulipane], JP [Giordano], Brad [Hermann], all those guys. We were so close last year. That’s why we had so much success, and it was just a fun year all around. Probably my most fun year of hockey.”
But the story isn’t over.
And while Kenmore East moves on without last year’s seniors, the players left behind are just as hungry to win.
“It was just a good experience, winning a state title, and I hope to try hard this year and do it again,” said junior forward Russ Riggio.
Pray expects Riggio to lead the offense this year along with senior Justin Watson and David Uptegrove, who joins the Bulldogs this year after spending last season with the Buffalo Regals organization.
“Those three will be a big part of our offense up front, and then we’re hoping that a couple of the younger guys can step up and fill some roles as well there too,” Pray said.
“I expect us to try hard and compete with everybody,” Riggio said. “I’m just trying to do the best I can do, score as many points as I can. I’m just trying to help out the young guys, get the experience, and help them compete against the top level teams.”
Balesteri will lead a young defense as the only senior defenseman on this year’s team. He’s hoping to step into the void left by two-way defenseman and one of last year’s captains, Cullen Smyth.
“I’m gonna try and take over the role of Cullen, doing everything that he did,” Balesteri said. “He played forward, he played D, he did everything for us. I’m gonna try and fill in that role. It’s gonna be a hard role to fill. He was a great player — just big shoes to fill.”
Balesteri also hopes to fill the void left by last year’s seniors in terms of leadership. Pray, Tulipane, and Smyth were last year’s captains, with Spataro and Marinelli serving as captains their junior year.
“I’m just gonna try and lead these guys as much as possible,” Balesteri said. “I hope they look up to me as a player and as a person. I want them to be able to come to me to talk to me about anything. Just lead by example is what I wanna do, basically.”
Pray expects solid defense from Balesteri, as well as sophomore defenseman Ryan Hahn and newcomer Frank Gengo, who played for Sweet Home last season.
“Sam Balesteri is gonna be a major leader, and Ryan Hahn’s come along real well,” Pray said. “And then we were fortunate enough to pick up Frank Gengo from Sweet Home, who now goes to school over here in our district, so he’s gonna be a big plus for us on defense.”
Pray expects leadership from Riggio and goaltender Chase Ford as well. They know what it took to win last year, and Pray hopes that they’ll convey that knowledge to this year’s team.
“Hopefully their style of play on the ice will lead,” Pray said. “But also, there’s gonna be adversity at times, and they’re gonna have to show maturity and show that in good times and bad, you don’t quit; you just keep playing. If they do that, we’ll become a better team towards the end of the year then.”
Defense and goaltending are Kenmore East’s strengths this year, especially goaltending. Ford split time in net last year with Brad Hermann during the regular season, and Ford boasted a 1.61 goals against average while recording two shutouts in seven games.
“Chase, he’s a great goalie,” Balesteri said. “He’s gonna keep us in a lot of games this year, no doubt.”
“Chase has had a lot of experience already,” Pray said. “He played just about half of our regular season season games last year. Chase is very familiar with the competition and did a great job last year, so he’s gonna have a big role to play this year.”
“I think I gotta show up this year because I had a lot of help with Brad Hermann as the other goalie to help me, so I just gotta show up to games as best as I can,” Ford said. “I’m hoping not to let in more than three goals a game, but if I do, it’s no big deal. Just pop up after it, see what I can do.”
On the ice, Ford brings “a lot of heart. I just wanna have everybody connect, have a lot of chemistry, make sure everybody knows what they’re doing.”
As a leader on this year’s team, Ford will do his best to make sure that each player knows his role and that the team develops chemistry.
“Last year we had a lot of connections,” Ford said. “We all knew each other; we all loved each other. If we all start getting to know each other this year and start getting a lot of chemistry going, I think we can get pretty far this year.”
But the Bulldogs don’t expect the season to be easy. Success this year will require a bit more hard work than it did last year.
“We have a lot to work on,” Balesteri said. “It’s gonna be a tough year. We gotta work on everything — scoring, passing, defensive zone, offensive zone, everything. It’s gotta get better.”
“I think we’re gonna have some good nights and some nights where we’ll probably have to reflect a little bit, but overall, I’m positive that these guys can step up and compete at the level that they have to,” Pray said. “We’re gonna have to be a little bit smarter defensive zone team this year, and then we’ll have to get more of the grinding type goals. We’ll get some finesse ones — I think we’ll have a fairly good power play still, but we’re gonna need some of the in-front-of-the-net type goals, rebound type goals, so we’re gonna have to be aggressive in front of the net especially.”
Kenmore East opens its season Dec. 8 against Williamsville East at Northtown Center. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm.