West Seneca East Prevails in Prynn’s Return to KeyBank Center

The Section VI Fed hockey Super Monday once again lived up to the hype. The Fed produced three unforgettable games down at the KeyBank Centre. In the final game of the night the West Seneca East Trojans scored two 3rd period goals to earn a 3-1 win over Kenmore West giving the school it’s 1st sectional title.

Tyler Arndt scored what proved to be the game winner at 8:41 into the third. He added an empty netter for insurance continuing the dream season for the Trojans. Arndt was named Player of the Game for his efforts.

“This took a lot of effort by everybody but they were all willing to put the work in” head coach Phil Prynn said after the win. “This is a great moment for the program.”

In 2002 Prynn sat in the visiting teams locker room of what was then known as the Marine Midland Arena. His Trojans had just been defeated in the finals 3-2, in OT to Orchard Park. Monday, Prynn was handed the Section VI Small School Division Championship plaque after the Trojans defeated the Blue Devils 3-1.

Prynn was just a junior then and figured he’d be back the next year. As a senior his team never made it out of the semi-final round and his high-school hockey career was over.

Prynn, now 32 is in his 2nd full year as head coach of the team he laced up for a little over fourteen years ago. He guided the Trojans to a 9-5-1 regular season record, earning a 7th seed in the sectional playoffs. After three tough rounds West Seneca East landed a spot on the Super Sunday card Monday night in downtown Buffalo.

Prynn’s message to his team prior to the start of the game was to not take this moment for granted like he did. Go out and play for each other, leave it all on the ice because this might be the only time they ever have this kind of opportunity.

“I’m glad we had a tough road to get here” Prynn said last week after the Trojans won a double OT thriller over heavy favorite Williamsville East. “We played Will South, who were playing their best hockey at the time, then we beat Grand Island, the division 3 champs and then Will East. We earned this and we’ll be better for having gone through these teams.”

Prynn’s words rang true. They battled a very underrated Blue Devils team. Ken West was the No. 4 seed. WSE defeated Ken West in their only regular season match-up 4-1.

They used the same recipe for winning then again on Monday. Out work Ken West, finish their chances and offer a steady diet of Jagger Maving, the sophomore goaltender that has taken this league by storm the past couple weeks.

Maving surrendered an early first period goal to Blue Devils captain Benny Serrano but quickly regained his composure and waited for his teammates to bail him out.

They did that just before time ran out in the opening period. Freshman Cameron Bauer muscled himself off a West defender and sent a wrist shot that went into the top right-hand corner of the net.

It was all Maving from there who finished with 27 saves.

Bauer’s goal helped calm the nerves of his Trojan teammates who spent much of the 1st period looking for some offense.

The second and third presented a number of man advantage opportunities for both teams but the penalty kill units did their jobs again and again.

“We worked extremely hard for this one but tonight we just weren’t the better team” Ken West coach Rob Rozsak said. I was proud of all the guys, they are hurting, it’s a tough one to take. I saw a lot of our JV and some modified players there for support. That was good to see, I want them to know that this is what we expect now. A level of consistency. This has to be the standard.”

Bogacki played great as usual for Ken West, he stopped 20 of 22 shots. He made the first save on what turned out to be the game winner. Arndt’s initial shot seemed harmless, high in the chest area but the rebound bounced awkwardly and came right out to Arndt for the tap in. Great hockey games often come down to a bounce. This was no different.

For Prynn, this time it went his way.