They accomplished more than any team in the two-decade history of the Mars hockey program and had a better season than any Planets team before them, a campaign the envy of 14 of the other 15 PIHL Class A teams.

But that was little consolation to the Planets Wednesday night after losing to Quaker Valley, 3-1, in the Penguins Cup Class A championship game at Mellon Arena.

"I think that they did a wonderful job. The team as a whole has grown this year," Mars coach Tim Coleman said. "But our goal was to win the Penguins Cup. We didn't achieve that goal, and the first thing I told our guys during dry-land training in the summer was that the team goal was to win the Penguins Cup. We fell short of that, but the kids did very well."

Mars (22-2-1) was playing in the Penguins Cup finals for the first time after being the postseason's top seed for the first time. The Planets scored more goals and allowed fewer goals this season than any other team in Class A during the regular season.

But they lost Wednesday for the second time in three meetings this season with Quaker Valley, which was playing in the title game for the third season in a row and won the 2006 Pennsylvania Cup state championship.

Mars was done in by a variety of factors. Some their own doing -- an inability to score during seven power plays, a penalty shot and during two long two-man advantages -- and some out of their control, a couple fortuitous bounces for Quaker Valley leading to goals and a disputed QV goal as time expired in the second period.

It was the last game in a Planets uniform for six seniors: Forwards Mike Heltman, Ian Finney, Mike Gascione, Justin Wingert and Jake Takach and defenseman Sean Roach.

Finney ranked fourth in PIHL Class A in scoring with 61 points (26 goals, 35 assists) in 22 regular-season games and Heltman ranked eighth (30 goals and 24 assists for 54 points in 20 regular-season contests).

Wingert and Takach combined for 21 goals, and Roach posted an impressive 21 points from the blue line. Gascione had 12 points.

Coleman has been coaching at Mars for seven seasons, moving his way up the ranks from freshman team coach to junior varsity coach to varsity head coach. In that way, he has almost virtually been with this season's seniors ever step of the way.

"It's tough because I've seen these guys come up through the system, so to see a Heltman and a Finney and a Takach go, it's going to be difficult because I've always been around those guys.

"The majority of my time I've been with Mars, those guys have been here, so it will be an adjustment. But that's just how the world works -- whenever you're a senior, you graduate and move into college, and hopefully a couple of those guys will be able to play at the college level."

Despite the losses, Mars still has plenty of talent returning. Junior defenseman Steven Tracy, for example, was a PIHL player of the month for December. Junior Jake Robash was 10th in PIHL Class A in scoring with 26 goals and 23 assists, and sophomore Mike Mazzotta was tied for 16th with 14 goals and 26 assists. Junior Andrew Santa posted 20 points in 19 games.

Sophomore defenseman Tyler Whiteford should continue to be a force at 6 feet 4, 200 pounds. Sophomore Greg Lewis is recognized as one of the better goalies in the area.

Juniors Matt Wingert and Derek Sitterly and sophomore Brady Sipe each posted 17 points in the regular season, almost averaging a point per game. Freshman defenseman Ryan Magdinek, who also plays for the Pittsburgh Hornets, was limited to only nine regular-season games due to injury.

"We've got a good team out there," Coleman said. "The nucleus is still there. We're not done yet."