A Story Disney Wouldn’t Believe: Trethewey Becomes a Penguin

After Charlie Trethewey got drafted by the Penguins in the third round of the 2025 NHL Draft at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, the defenseman boarded a flight to a familiar spot.

“It was surreal, getting on that plane. It didn’t really feel like I was coming to be a part of the Pittsburgh Penguins program, you know? Just felt like I was coming home to see some family,” Charlie said.

His father, Bob, grew up in Mt. Lebanon, the South Hills of Pittsburgh. His grandfather, Bill, sold raw materials and spent much of his career around steel mills.

When Charlie played for the DICK’S Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Penguins Elite, he and Bob stayed with Bill for a while – in the same house that Bob was born and raised; where he ate Sunday dinners with the family; and celebrated goals during the 1991 and ’92 Stanley Cup championship runs with his friends.

Bob returned there for development camp, going with Bill to watch the on-ice sessions at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex – this time, with Charlie as a member of the NHL club instead of the youth program.

“My dad said, I can't believe I’m heading up 79 North again, but it's for a whole different reason! I told him, I know!” Bob said with a laugh. “I can't either! It's just so wild. Like, it's so wild.

“One of my really good friends sent a text. He said, if someone were to submit this story to Disney, Disney may still not actually write it, because it's just too unbelievable. That's exactly what it feels like.”

Mario Lemieux is who got Bob hooked on hockey in the first place. When the Penguins took Lemieux first overall in 1984, Bob was 10 years old. “That stretch between ‘84 and when they made those two Cup runs, we just became obsessed,” he said.

Those stretches occurred during his junior and senior years at Mt. Lebanon High School. Bob and his siblings – he’s the youngest of five – would invite people over to watch games on their small basement TV.

“Every time they scored, we'd have pile-ons, and it was fantastic,” Bob recalled with a smile.

But while Bob loved hockey, the timing wasn’t right for him to play. Before Lemieux, football reigned supreme in western Pennsylvania. Rinks were few and far between.

“Back in the day, there was Mt. Lebanon Rink and maybe one other,” Bob said. “So, I had two friends in grade school who played hockey. They would have practices at 3, 4 in the morning. For my parents, it was just too much for something like that.”

The real growth was inspired by Lemieux’s arrival, and took a while to really manifest. Bob remembers the family being blown away when Ice Castle was built in Castle Shannon back in 2000. At that point, Bob and his wife Kelly were living in Maryland and eventually built their first home in Ellicott City in 2001. That’s where they raised Charlie, who was born in 2007.

“I told Kelly before Charlie was born, if it's a boy, we're lacing up the skates, and let's just see what happens,” Bob said. “So, on a cold January weekend when he was two and a half, we took him out on the rink. By the end of the first day out on the ice, he was pushing off from the red line to the wall by himself. It was wild. It took one session. So then, we’re like, all right [laughs]... this is going to be a lot of fun.”

They stayed in Maryland through the end of Charlie’s 12U years, splitting holidays between Kelly’s hometown of Charlton, Massachusetts (with Charlton being Charlie’s full name) and Mt. Lebanon. Bob would take Charlie to Penguins games during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, always getting the tickets well in advance.

“We were fortunate enough to catch a couple shootouts. So that was pretty cool, seeing a shootout live,” Charlie said. He mentioned that there are many photos of him from those games wearing a Sidney Crosby jersey, with Bob pulling one up that was dated Dec. 30, 2015.

Sure enough, the Penguins lost to Toronto in a shootout that night. But they went on to win a second set of back-to-back titles, with Charlie close to the same age his dad was during the first set.

And with Crosby’s impact building on the foundation set by Lemieux, the youth hockey scene in western Pennsylvania experienced remarkable growth through a lot of hard work and investment from the Penguins organization and the staff involved with Pens Elite.

The program, formed in 2012, has become the area’s premier AAA amateur hockey organization. So, the Tretheweys decided that Charlie would take advantage of it by joining Pens Elite for his 14U years, based out of the building with Lemieux’s name on it.

“The reputation was through the roof,” Bob said. “For me, having the ability to be back here with family and a bunch of friends in the hockey world, it was a situation that made a lot of sense. This was the number one place for us, just because you deliver your child, and everything's taken care of. That's the best way I can think about it. You know you're getting the ice touches, you're getting the workouts, you're getting the coaching, the whole deal.

“So, it was very deliberate, but it was absolutely the right place for us, and his two years here were awesome.”

Bob and Charlie did have to brave the Squirrel Hill tunnels more frequently while living with Bill, before moving to a house in Cranberry about 10 minutes from the rink.

“As a kid, we were down in the South Hills all the time. So, I just thought Pittsburgh was only like that,” Charlie said. “I didn't know what Cranberry was like, a little more spread out. The South Hills is very unique, in a way. It wasn't anything like Cranberry or the north side of town.”

Whether they were in the South Hills or North Hills, one constant was Sunday dinners, taken over by Bob’s brother-in-law.

“My uncle Sam, he's a great cook. He’d cook steaks all the time, ham, roasts, briskets. Anything you can name, he can do it,” Charlie said. “So, it was just awesome going down there to eat every Sunday. It allowed me to get away from the hockey part and just spent some time with some family. It was great.”

After their time in Pittsburgh came to an end, Bob and Charlie went to Michigan. Charlie spent the last two seasons with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, tallying 55 points (18G-37A) in 115 games.

Going into the draft itself, “the Pens were a hope for me, it was a hope for him. But you just never know. You don't know how the board's going to shake out,” Bob said.

So, it was an emotional rollercoaster every time the Penguins were on the clock. When they actually called his name at the 73^rd overall pick, the tears started flowing for both Bob and Kelly.

“Kelly was expecting to be able to hold it together, but that was the one team where it was like, floodgates,” Bob said. “It hit me initially. But then later, a staffer came over and said ‘hey, I want to take you guys over to the players lounge. That's kind of the next step. Charlie's going to be busy for the next 45 minutes or so. I just looked at her, and I started bawling. I couldn't even talk to her. It was insane.”

They couldn’t be prouder of their son, who, simply put, is the kind of person you root for.

“I got up to 230 texts, and a lot of them were just like, you could not have written a better outcome for that kid. We’re so happy for him. He's worked so hard,” Bob said. “He's got a heart of gold.”

It was also a cathartic moment for their family as a whole, as it has been difficult being separated these last few years. Bob has been with Charlie, while Kelly has been with their two daughters.

“It’s been tough, not being with my girls. But they totally get it,” Bob said. “Obviously, super supportive. We're doing everything in our power to help them realize whatever their dreams are as well. It literally is divide and conquer. We know we're doing the best we can.

“Kelly and I said before we made the move to Pittsburgh, we just want to look back with no regrets. We want to make sure that we did everything in our power to help him, and then honestly, the rest is up to him. He’s delivered with flying colors to be in this situation, this spot, and have this opportunity. It’s pretty amazing.”