Longtime Bethel Park High School hockey coach Jim McVay and his wife celebrated the birth of the couple's first child, daughter Maeve, last week.

"It's a whole new perspective. Everybody said, 'That's great you had your first child,' and I say, 'No, I have 25 kids -- this is the first female,'" McVay said, referring to the Black Hawks roster.

"I've had 20-some kids for years now; they just keep changing every year. This one [the newborn] just isn't going to change."

That's one of the reasons the Black Hawks have been one of the top programs in the PIHL -- the family atmosphere.

And over the past year, the Bethel Park hockey family has done plenty of growing up.

After years of being among the PIHL Class AAA elite, the Black Hawks had an almost-unfathomable losing season last year, barely qualifying for the Penguins Cup playoffs after playing in the Penguins Cup title game at the end of each of the previous two seasons.

Included among their 10 losses last season were eight by one goal. Turning that trend around and winning those close games rather than losing them would have a dramatic positive impact on the Black Hawks' final record.

"Part of it is learning to win," McVay said. "Learning to win is a hard thing. We lost so many one-goal games last season, and this year we're winning a few, but I would say they're still learning to win and haven't totally learned to win quite yet.

"But if you're learning to win, if they keep doing the same things and are still in the process of learning, the wins are going to follow."

Bethel Park (5-2) was 2-8 in one-goal games last season and had lost its first two games of this season by one goal apiece. But as part of a five-game winning streak that followed, including a 2-1 victory against Canon-McMillan Monday, the Black Hawks have won three one-goal games this season.

The Blackhaws lead Section of Class AAA, holding a one-point lead over Wheeling Park.

They've been doing it courtesy of a balanced offensive attack and a roster that is deep both in numbers (25 players) and talent.

McVay said he has more players on his team than he has ever had, which he prefers because of the competition it fosters in practices and during games, the competition for a spot on one of the four forward lines or three defense pairings is fierce with no one wanting to be the dreaded healthy scratch.

The Black Hawks' top three lines have been sophomores Dale Reither, Zach Volzer and Jim Cullen; junior Mike Seifert and the Shipley brothers (Michael is a junior and Tyler a senior); and sophomores James Stitt and Dylan Jones and junior Jeff Bright.

Michael Shipley is an alternate captain, but the team's three other captains (it alternates the 'A' duties for home and away games) are all senior defensemen: Aaron Placke (who wears the 'C'), Ken Loeffler and Connor Wells.

Junior Nick Heyl adds to an experienced group on the blue line that is improved with a year of experience under their belts.

The offense through the early part of the season has come from a variety of sources, with Michael Shipley leading the team through six games with six points.

After an off year as measured by the high standards of the Bethel Park program last season, the Black Hawks want to reclaim their spot among the PIHL Class AAA elite, not that McVay will overtly admit it that way.

"My goal every year -- I tell the kids every day -- is to get better every day, whether it's a practice or a game," McVay said. "If we keep getting better, I think we can go pretty far. But we don't look ahead to the Penguins Cup or state championship.

"If you look too far down the road, that's when a deer jumps out in front of you. We want to look one game at a time and get better each game and whatever happens, happens.

"If we play a great game and lose, I'm happy. If you play a better team, you can't control that."

Mike White's "High School Sports Edition" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.