NEW KENSINGTON — Nearly a decade ago, the Pittsburgh Huskies amateur hockey program was practically dead.

Now, it’s downright deadly.

Butler resident Vic Whann is head coach of the Huskies’ 18-under AA squad that is off to a 12-0 start, outscoring its opposition by a 61-12 margin. The team plays in the Pittsburgh Amateur Hockey League.

It is also ranked No. 1 in the nation for its age group by MyHockeyRankings.com.

The website ranks 253 18-under teams. The Huskies recently took over the top spot from Team Copper Country of Minnesota.

“They factor in a lot of criteria there,” Whann said. “Wins, strength of schedule, goal differential are a few of the factors.

“We’ve cracked the top 20 in the rankings before, but we’ve never come close to the top like this.”

Four players — Dustin Davis, Nick Whann and Clay Bachman of Butler, Christian Miller of Armstrong Central — have been with the Huskies since Vic Whann took over as coach eight years ago.

“The program was in a state of dormancy at that time. That’s how the PAHL listed it,” assistant coach Doug Miller said. “The league was ready to pull the plug on it. The numbers were way down.

“The organization wasstruggling to field even one complete team.”

That’s when Whann, Miller and fellow assistants Carl Bachman and Terry Davis moved over from the Armstrong Arrows. They quickly began rebuilding the program.

Today, the Pittsburgh Huskies have 110 players in the system and put six teams of varying age groups on the ice.

“Hockey is what these kids do,” Davis said. “Our games are on weekends and we practice once a week. They’re on the ice with their high school teams three days a week.

“They just jell together. They’ve formed tight friendships over the years.”

Among the Huskies also playing high school hockey are Davis, Jonathan Fair, Bachman, CJ Campbell, Marcus McCall, and Connor Scott of Butler, Perry Shiring of Highlands, Mitchell Rupprecht of Deer Lakes, Jake Snyder and Miller of Armstrong, Eric Phelps of Penn-Trafford and Brett Berner of North Hills.

The Huskies’ home ice is the Pittsburgh Ice Arena in New Kensington.

“These guys are like one big family,” Davis said. “And it’s such a deep team. We can put four solid offensive lines and three strong sets of defensemen on the ice.”

Add to that the goaltending tandem of Clay Bachman and Phelps. Bachman has stopped 128 of 133 shots thus far and Phelps has snagged 129 of 141. That equates to save percentages of 96 and 91, respectively.

“As deep as our talent pool runs, we have the best goaltending in the area if anything breaks down,” Whann said. “Both of those guys are outstanding.”

And they don’t mind dividing time in the net.

“This is the first time Clay has had no problem with sharing playing time,” Coach Bachman, his father, said. “Those guys have tremendous respect for each other.”

The Huskies have four players — Miller with 15, Rupprecht 13, Davis 11 and Berner 10 — with 10 or more goals. Nick Whann has 13 assists, Eric Leya 12.

The team’s overall goal scoring is spread among 13 players.

The PAHL regular season runs from early October through late February. The Huskies hope to be playing well beyond that.

“We won the state championship and went to nationals as U-16 two years ago,” Whann said. “Last year, we got knocked out of the state tournament by the Mid-State Mustangs, who went on to win nationals.

“This year, we’re hoping to go all the way.”

Coach Bachman is almost banking on it.

“I practically expect us to win the national championship. It will be disappointing if we don’t,” he said. “This is just a great team.”