MIDDLESEX TWP — The Butler hockey team was red-hot entering the quarterfinals of the PIHL Class AAA playoffs.

Winning five straight to close the regular season allowed the Golden Tornado to earn a first-round bye. It also set Butler up against a team that had its number.

Pine-Richland beat the Golden Tornado 4-2 Thursday night at Ice Connection, giving the Rams their third win over Butler this season.

The Rams (12-8-1) beat the Golden Tornado 9-5 Nov. 25 and 3-1 Feb. 10. Butler senior goaltender Logan Rothbauer was disappointed to see his team’s run end.

Their hot finish helped the Golden Tornado (13-8) win their first section title in 21 years.

Rothbauer thinks this team will have a good impact on the program.

“We’ve been evenly matched up. They’ve had their good bounces their way and some bad bounces our way,” said Rothbauer, who made 18 saves. “We’ve laid a pretty good foundation for everyone else coming up.”

Andrew Vislosky’s goal with 5:12 left in the second period put Pine-Richland ahead 2-1. That allowed the Rams to focus on limiting Butler’s offense.

Pine-Richland was outshot 29-22, but made it difficult for the Golden Tornado to clear the zone.

“We’re arguably one of the most resilient teams in the PIHL. Unfortunately, the matchup is not a good matchup for us, especially when we’re playing from behind,” Butler coach Mike Guentner said. “When they get the lead, they know how to lock it down defensively.”

Pine-Richland scored the lone goal in the first period. Nicholas Jenkins scored a power-play goal, hitting a slapshot from the point that got behind Rothbauer.

Jacob Campbell evened the game in the second period with a power-play goal of his own for Butler.

Vislosky scored five minutes later, which is what Pine-Richland coach Michael Bagnato feels is his team’s strong point.

They don’t get frustrated.

“We don’t get rattled one way or the other. Every one of our games in the league has been by three goals or less unless we blew someone out, ” Bagnato said. “We didn’t blow a lot of people out. When they scored that late goal, we stayed together. The kids willed each other to win.”

Matthew Cole scored with nine minutes remaining to put Pine-Richland ahead 3-1.

Butler made a late surge, scoring with 4:40 remaining when Connor Scott’s shot deflected off a Rams’ defenseman and went into the net.

“I thought the boys played fantastic tonight. They made my job a lot easier,” Rothbauer said. “We didn’t want it to be over. We’re devastated we lost, but we put a good effort in.”

Pine-Richland scored its final goal with 13 seconds left. With Rothbauer out of the net, the Rams cleared the zone and Andres Binotto scored to seal the win.

Guentner thinks the Golden Tornado making two consecutive playoff appearances makes the program’s future bright.

“I think we finally built a foundation for our future teams to look back and see Butler has potential to be a good hockey team,” Guentner said. “That was a lot of our challenge the past couple years. We didn’t have that winning tradition to build off of and use as a recruitment tool in the area.”