BUTLER TWP — On paper, Butler hockey’s won-loss record isn’t all that impressive.

But the Golden Tornado are coming.

Butler has qualified for the PIHL playoffs for the first time in four years. The seventh-seeded Tornado (6-12-0) finished fourth in the 2A West Division and will take on East Division champion and No. 2 seed Franklin Regional (16-2-0) at 8:30 p.m. Monday in Delmont.

“The senior leadership and getting everyone to buy into the team concept has been the difference this year,” first-year Butler coach Nick Minton said. “I feel like we’re playing our best hockey right now.”

Butler won only four of 40 games over the previous two seasons. Both of those years, the Tornado played in Class 3A.

The Tornado closed the regular season with five games against eventual PIHL playoff teams. All five resulted in losses, but Butler was competitive in most of those contests. They gave up a game-tying goal against South Fayette with 20 seconds left in regulation of the regular season finale, then lost in a shootout.

“That one particularly hurt because we would have wrapped up a playoff berth had we won,” Minton said. “That game forced us to wait and see how everything played out.”

When Montour lost one of its final two games, Butler joined the postseason.

One of the Tornado’s late-season losses was a 7-4 decision to Franklin Regional. That game was tied at four after two periods.

“Their goalie stole that one,” Minton insisted. “We probably had 15 shots on net in the final four and a half minutes, a lot of quality chances.”

Butler senior Kyle Grasha, the team’s captain the past two years, agreed.

“We gained a lot of confidence from that game,” Grasha said. “We know we can play with them. This is the most confident we’ve been all season.”

Grasha centers the Tornado’s top line, which has produced 48 of the team’s 72 goals this season. Grasha has 14 goals and 11 assists while junior winger Brody Simko has tallied 20 goals and 20 assists, junior winger Parker Worsley 14 goals and 10 assists.

Owen Denny and Colton Gregory, joining Brayden Hardsock on Butler’s No. 2 line, have scored nine and six goals this season, respectively.

“We play well together, coming out of the defensive zone,” Grasha said of he and his linemates. “We aggressively attack the net, put in a lot of rebounds ... We get a lot of dirty goals.”

Minton said he was hesitant to put his three top scorers together on one line, though they wanted to play together.

“I noticed other teams were doing that, so I figured I’d give it a shot,” the coach said. “I didn’t start playing them together as a line until after Christmas. I told them some pressure comes with that. I expected one, two or three goals per game from them and they’ve been delivering.”

Butler goalie EJ Delaney is only a sophomore and has five of the team’s six wins with a 4.64 goals-against average. Butler’s team only has five seniors: Grasha, Gregory, Rowan Musko, Aaron Shoup and Trevor Ackleson.

“EJ only played seven or eight varsity games last year,” Minton pointed out. “He’s played 16 or so this year. That’s a big jump and his play has really improved.”

Minton was an assistant coach at Chartiers Valley — which went to the Penguins Cup finals — last year. He assisted at West Allegheny a few years before that.

“I told the kids before this season started that every team I’ve coached the past five years made the playoffs and I intended to keep that streak going this year,” Minton said. “They didn’t let me down.”

Two other Butler County teams — Seneca Valley and North Catholic — are also in the Penguins Cup playoffs. The Raiders are the No. 5 seed in 3A and play at No. 4 Mt. Lebanon at 7:10 p.m. Monday night. North Catholic is the No. 2 seed in 1A and hosts No. 7 McDowell at 9 p.m. Tuesday at the UPMC Lemieux Complex.