The Mars Planets aren't playing like a team that's suffering from any sort of Penguins Cup hangover.

Mars won its first PIHL Class A championship last spring but, despite the graduation of a strong group of seniors, has continued its dominating ways through the early part of this season.

Heading into a game against Serra Catholic last night, the Planets were 5-0 and had outscored opponents, 39-2.

"We've started off the season real well," said team captain Tyler Whiteford, a senior defenseman. "We didn't know what to expect starting out with team losing a core or seniors, and we're actually doing as well as can be expected."

The Planets lost six seniors and at least two prominent underclassmen from last season's 23-2 team that lost in the Pennsylvania Cup state championship game. But, so far anyway, Mars hasn't appeared to miss a beat.

Heading into the Serra game, the Planets hadn't allowed more than one goal or scored less than five goals in any contest.

"We're pleased, but we haven't played any of the top teams yet so we're keeping that in mind," said coach Steve Meyers late last week. "We played a good Hampton team and didn't have too many problems, but we know it will get tougher from here.

"We're playing well, but we know we have to keep improving."

Mars is without Jake Robash, who was second in PIHL Class A as a senior last season with 37 goals and 31 points in 20 games. The Planets' second-leading goal- and point-producers had less than half of what Robash had.

Though it lacks the elite game-breaker, the team is far more balanced this season. Through Mars' first four games, 11 different players had scored goals and 13 had recorded assists. Seven players had between six and nine points and four had between four and six goals.

"This year we don't have that natural pure goal-scorer on the team," Meyers said. "But we have three really solid lines and are solid top to bottom."

Though the line pairings have remained fluid throughout the early portion of the season, senior Mike Mazzotta, sophomore Elliot Tisdale and freshman Austin Heakins have generally played together and been the Planets' most productive unit with 12 goals through four games.

Junior Rob Sigurdsson and sophomores Nick Blaney and Rusty Miller have formed another productive line, and even a so-called "third" line centered by Tyler Thomas (four goals, four assists through four games) has also contributed.

"We're getting scoring from all our lines, no matter if they're the first or the third line," Whiteford said. "It's nice to know that when you're that deep, you know you'll be able to hang with any other team."

"There have been a lot of guys thrust right into prominent roles after six seniors graduated and there were other guys who did not come back," Meyers said. "And just about all of them have responded just about as well as anyone can ask."

A senior alternate captain, Mazzotta is Mars' most talented pure offensive player, Meyers said, and a player the team counts on in any situation.

"He's our No. 1 center and our No. 1 shutdown guy," Meyers said. "He scores, he does it all."

Whiteford and C.J. Thibault are similar senior leaders on defense. Combining those two with two other experienced defensemen (senior Eric Antanucci and junior Kevin Leslie) and a top-notch goalie in junior Tyler Stepke has made goals extremely difficult for opponents to come by.

"Our defense and goaltending is what's going to take us as far as we'll go this year," Meyers said.

Meyers said the Planets have been focused and in a groove since the final roster was set -- it was not clear who would be able to play until close to the start of the season -- and they played in the preseason St. Margaret's tournament.

Mars has played in the past two Penguins Cup title games and is intent on a third consecutive deep playoff run. The semifinals and finals are scheduled to be played at Mellon Arena.

"Every game, everybody is gunning for us," Meyers said. "We got a big bull's-eye on our back; everybody's looking to beat Mars and knock off Mars. We know that, but the guys are embracing that challenge. They're really, I think, looking forward to... the challenge of defending."

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