Chartiers Valley is the last team in the PIHL this season with an unblemished record, so it’s not surprising that the Colts are enjoying the ride.
“It’s been fun. We’ve had some pretty good performances so far,” Chartiers Valley coach Paul Bonetti said. “We have a group this year that takes practice seriously. I think that’s important. We have full attendance, and I think that’s where you win your games.”
Winning hockey is not a new thing at Chartiers Valley. In 2021, the Colts played in the Class 1A Penguins Cup final and narrowly lost a 3-2 decision to Indiana despite the fact they went into the third period down three goals.
But over the last couple of seasons, Chartiers Valley has been down. The Colts missed the playoffs each of the past two seasons and only notched 12 wins in that time.
Already this year, Chartiers Valley has more than equaled its victory total from the last two seasons and has a 13-0 record. The Colts play in Class 1A.
Like most teams that reach this point in the season undefeated, Chartiers Valley has gotten here by being strong from the goal line out. And no one in the league has had a better year between the pipes than junior goaltender Matthew Colberg.
“He’s hyper-focused and he hates to give up goals,” Bonetti said. “It sounds simple to say, but he really gets upset with himself when he lets in a goal, so he not only competes against the other team, but against himself to see how good he can be.”
So far, he’s been nothing short of incredible.
In 11 starts, Colberg has stopped 165 of 175 shots for an astounding .943 save percentage. The all-star netminder has given up just 10 goals in 11 games for a PIHL-best goals-against average of 0.91 and leads the league with four shutouts.
“I think his competitive nature really helps him stop a lot of pucks and he’s sound positionally,” Bonetti said. “I’ve seen goaltenders who were athletic, but they don’t have the fundamentals, and I’ve seen goalies with the fundamentals that aren’t athletic. He’s both.”
Having a standout goaltender only helps if the defense does its job, and the Chartiers Valley blue line has been solid, led by sophomore PIHL all-star Tyler Held. The team will have to play without sophomore defenseman Joey DeAngelis as he recovers from a broken wrist, but the team has veteran depth with seniors Sean Taylor and Luke Hinds, junior Oscar Garcia and sophomore Dylan Shamonsky.
“I think this is the deepest and strongest group of defensemen that I’ve seen in Class A this year,” Bonetti said. “They do a great job. We like to preach keeping shots to the outside and, with a goalie as good as Matthew, you need to get rebound goals on him or some kind of breakaway because you’re not going to beat him from bad angles.”
Here they come
Looking at the standings at the beginning of the season, it appeared Peters Township was going to be in serious trouble in its bid to become the first team since Bethel Park in 2000-02 to win three consecutive Class 3A Penguins Cup titles.
In their first four games, the Indians were 1-3-0, had scored only six goals and gave up six in a loss to Seneca Valley.
Not so fast.
Since that loss to the Raiders, Peters Township is 7-1-1, with its only regulation loss coming Dec. 14 in a 5-3 loss to Mt. Lebanon in a game that was tied 2-2 going to the third period. In those nine games, the Indians have given up 20 goals — including a pair of empty-netters in the loss to Mt. Lebanon — for an average of 2.22 per game and have scored 41 for an average of 4.6 a night.
Then again, none of this should be a surprise. Peters Township has traditionally been a better team at the end of the season, which is why the team has eight Penguins Cup titles to its credit and can tie Meadville (9) for the most all time with a win this year.
Here’s the clincher
There are nearly six weeks remaining in the regular season, but that doesn’t mean it’s too soon for teams to start clinching playoff berths. In fact, two have locked up their postseason spots.
Chartiers Valley (13-0-0) and with Avonworth (11-2-0) in the Class 1A Blue Division are the first in the PIHL to have earned their place in the postseason.
Though the top six teams in each Class 1A division qualify for the playoffs, the Blue Division has two teams, Wheeling Park and Wheeling Catholic, that are ineligible for the postseason because they are based outside of Pennsylvania. Wheeling Park (13-3-0) is currently second in the Blue Division and would have earned a place in the Penguins Cup playoffs.
Had Wheeling Catholic (6-6-1) been eligible, neither Chartiers Valley nor Avonworth would have clinched as of yet. But now, Chartiers Valley and Avonworth can begin postseason preparations over the final month of the season.
“We have a lot of room for improvement still. We are by no means a finished product,” Bonetti said. “We’ll be working on fine-tuning some things, maybe adding a few wrinkles to what we do leading up to the playoffs”
Seneca Valley (11-3-0) can be the first in Class 3A to lock up a playoff spot with a win Monday against Baldwin (1-8-2).
PIHL RANKINGS:
(Records through Jan. 14)
Class 3A
1. Seneca Valley 11-3-0
2. Peters Township 8-4-1
3. Pine-Richland 8-4-0
4. North Allegheny 8-3-2
5. Bethel Park 8-4-1
Class 2A
1. Thomas Jefferson 9-2-0
2. South Fayette 8-1-2
3. Latrobe 10-3-0
4. Norwin 7-4-2
5. Fox Chapel 8-5-0
Class 1A
1. Quaker Valley 11-0-1
2. Chartiers Valley 13-0-0
3. Indiana 11-1-2
4. Avonworth 10-2-0
5. North Catholic 9-3-1
Keith Barnes: kbarnes.pg@gmail.com and Twitter @kbarnes_pghsprt
First Published: January 14, 2024, 9:32 p.m.
