Dylan Speck took home the hard hat and with good reason.
Speck, a senior, took Player of the Game honors as he scored the game winning goal as Kenmore West beat Kenmore East 5-4 in their WNY Varsity Ice Hockey Federation game that was played at the LECOM HarborCenter, Monday afternoon.
Speck’s goal game with 1:03 left in regulation and gave the Blue Devils the type of confidence booster that can only come from beating your rival.
“I hope this turns everything around, and from here on out, we just keep this momentum going and we win some more hockey games,” Speck said.
The Blue Devils struck first when Christian Leone gave his team a 1-0 lead just 1:36 into the game.
Defensively, the Blue Devils accomplished their goal of keeping their opponent to 10 shots or less as they out-shot the Bulldogs 28-9 for the game.
The ‘Dogs might not have fired a lot of rubber at West goalie Pelino, but to their credit they made their chances count. Mike Greiner scored on East’s first shot of the afternoon to tie the game at 1-1.
Always an emotionally charged game, this MLK Day meeting became even more intense as it comes on the heels of the East-West exhibition game during Ken-Ton WinterFest that was played two days earlier.
The Blue Devils once again showed how explosive they can be when Tyler Buyea and PJ Abbott scored back-to-back goals one minute and 11 seconds apart.
The Bulldogs responded with three unanswered goals, including a short-handed tally by Alex Ghosen with 7:18 left in regulation.
Abbott tied the game three minutes later on the power play.
The Bulldogs were playing a man down due to the fact senior defenseman Bennett Coburn was injured during warm-ups.
Goalie Seamus McPhee turned away 23 shots and made enough key stops to keep East in the game.
“Seamus played a very good game in net,” Ken-East coach Kyle Pray said.
Damien Isch had two assists, including one on Speck’s game winner, as Ken-West improved to 8-4-2.
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