Carr having unprecedented success between pipes for Bengals

Kevin Carr had a trained eye long before becoming the winningest goaltender to ever play at Buffalo State.

Not long into his youth hockey days in his hometown of Unionville, Ontario - a suburb near Toronto - something grabbed the attention of a seven-year-old Carr that would change the direction of his hockey career.

Carr's older brother, Ryan, also played hockey. He was teammates with a goalie who had a flamboyant mask filled with a blend of bright colors and decals from his father, who was a racecar driver. The appeal of the mask alone was enough for Carr to switch his position from player to goalie the next year.

Carr sported a white mask with a large star stretched over much of it his first year as a goaltender. Not the most extravagant detail, but it signifies the budding of an esteemed career at Buffalo State.
 

"It kind of represents a beginning of a new path that I wanted to choose," Carr said of his first goalie mask. "It's something that I like to look back on. I have pretty much my whole set of goalie equipment I ever had that my dad's kept. It's fun to go look and see what it was like back then."
 

Without Carr's eyes being struck by the showy mask and encouraging him to pursue goaltending, the Buffalo State men's hockey team record books would look quite different. Carr, a junior, has developed those same young eyes to help him become the most accomplished goaltender to ever play for the Bengals.
 

Now draped behind a mask with a bit more flare - featuring a buffalo donning a Bengals' jersey that balances with the bengal stripes in the background - Carr has also become one of the best goalies in the SUNYAC. The Bengals' 3-2 win over Potsdam last Saturday gave Carr the most wins ever by a Buffalo State netminder. He now has 33, besting the old mark of 31 set by Sean Sheehan in 2007.
 

"It's just something special that I can take away from our team success, and that I'll look back on years later and be proud of it," Carr said. "But at the same time, it's something that I have to keep in the back of my mind - we still have a job to do."
 

Having the most career wins in school history is just the latest record Carr has surpassed.
 

This season, the health and wellness major has 11 wins, tying the single-season school record he also accomplished his first two years and shares with Sheehan. He will go for sole possession of the record this Friday against Fredonia in the team's regular season finale.
 

Among Buffalo State goalies, Carr sits third all-time in career saves (2,250) and games played (74), and is the current leader in career save percentage (.917).  He is also on pace to break his own record he set last year for goals against average in a season (currently has a 2.59) and presently owns a .921 save percentage, which would equal the school-best mark he set his freshman year.
 

"He's a real student of the game. We're very fortunate to have him and he's earned everything that he's got here," head coach Nick Carriere said.
 

Being only a junior, there is a good chance Carr winds up at the top of every school goaltending record when he wraps up his career after next season.
 

Carr's individual achievement has ultimately led to team success. In the three years prior to Carr and the rest of the 2010 recruiting class coming to Buffalo State, the program had 26 wins. The three since has been the best three-year run in school history. The Bengals have 36 wins over that span.
 

"We've been more than fortunate to have Kevin as our goalie," said junior captain Mike Zannella, who was also part of the 2010 class. "He's been the backbone of this team and quite frankly the organization since I've been here."
 

As valuable as Carr has been to the program's recent attainment, he has been just as significant off the ice.

At the beginning of this season, Carr's teammates voted him as one of the team's assistant captains. A goalie wearing a letter is not common, but Carriere saw breaking the adage as warranted.

"Kevin's a very hard-working, mature young man who's very focused about his position and about the team," said Carriere, who believes that in the right situation, Carr could have played for a Division I program. "His teammates voted him assistant captain, because he cares that much and he's that accountable for his actions - he acts like a true pro out there."
 

As the Bengals prepare for the SUNYAC playoffs for the third time in as many years next week, they can look no further than in net as perhaps the biggest reason. Of the 77 games Buffalo State has played the last three years, Carr has played in all but three of them - a testament not only to his talent, but his dedication, as well.
 

"I try and represent our school with the utmost respect and honor," Carr said. "I know that I've been given an opportunity and I've been trying to do the best I can to represent everything that this school has worked for, that we have worked for as a team."

Aaron Garland can be reached by email at garland.record@live.com.
Follow sports editor Aaron Garland on Twitter @AA_Garland.