Drop in classification is paying off for West Allegheny hockey
Tri-State Sports & News Service
It only took a month into the season for West Allegheny to double its 2016-17 win total.
That’s what happens when you drop down in classification after a forgettable 2-17 season.
Then again, considering how little the Indians had last year, playing in Class 1A might not have been any better.
“Honestly, if the work we had put in since last year wasn’t there, we would have dropped several of the games we won,” West Allegheny coach Brian Boehm said. “And it didn’t matter if we were in Class 2A or Class 1A last year, we had to tear apart the culture of the club completely and rebuild it. We just had young and inexperienced players and had to throw them into the fire.”
Though singed, West Allegheny came out of last season’s doldrums with a renewed sense of purpose. The Indians won their first four games to open this season and are 5-1-0 after an 8-4 win against Wheeling Park on Monday.
Goaltender Jeremy Brosnovic has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the resurgence. Last season he was 2-14-0 with a bloated 7.24 goals-against average and a .834 save percentage, but has completely turned it around this year, with a 5-1-0 record a 3.33 GAA and a .882 save percentage.
“What he’s doing differently this year than he did last year is that he’s really controlling the game,” Boehm said. “He communicated much better with the bench this year and I think that comes with maturity, controls rebounds well and he’s put the work in and taken on the role as a leader.”
That commitment to the program and sportsmanship has already filtered down to the middle school team. On Nov. 9 in a 10-3 win against Chartiers Valley, the Indians worked with the Colts to allow defenseman Sean Pellegrino, a special-needs student in the West Allegheny school district, to score his first career goal on his first shift.
“The one thing about the culture change is, it’s not just anything I’ve done, but there’s a lot of people with our boosters and board of directors and the administration that want to build a championship program and part of that is doing things like this,” Boehm said. “To see that kid and both teams do what they did … wins and losses are great, but you can’t forget what the kids are really doing this for.”
Quaker Valley
Quaker Valley and Mars ruled Class 1A for nearly a decade and it has taken a couple of years for the Quakers to get back to the point where they could be a truly dominant team.
They’re not quite all the way back, but they are certainly getting there.
On Monday, Quaker Valley (5-2-0) won its third consecutive game to move into a tie with Mars (5-1-0) in the Class 2A North/West Division.
The Quakers have not won a division title since taking the Class 1A Tier 1 Western Conference in 2014-15 when they lost to the Planets in the Penguins Cup championship game.
This season the team is being led offensively by Ben Kuzma with nine goals and Beau Tomczak, who has seven assists and 15 points. Goaltending has also been strong with Philip Gagne (3-2-0, 2.84 GAA) and Colin Rice (2-0-0, 2.97) splitting time.
Seneca Valley
Seneca Valley may not be putting a lot of pucks in the net, but that hasn’t stopped the Raiders from being in the hunt for first place in Class 3A.
Through five games, Seneca Valley has scored only 11 goals, an average of 2.2 per game.
The Raiders leading goal scorers are Michael Spokane, Marshall Maier and Reese Garvin with just two apiece, while leading scorer Hunter Mueller hasn’t even hit the back of the net as he has five points, all on helpers.
What has been the strength of the team so far is defense.
Senior goaltender Logan Johnson has been a fortress in the pipes. In five games, he is 4-1-0 with two shutouts, a 1.00 GAA and a brilliant .956 save percentage.
Seneca Valley (4-1-0) has only allowed more than one goal in a game once and that was in a 3-1 season-opening loss to Butler. In the past four games, the Raiders are allowing just 0.50 goals per game and their five total goals allowed are the fewest in Class 3A.