Butler's Clay Potochny (82) vs. NA coalie Richard Karapandi (23) in a PIHL hockey first round playoff game at the Bairel Ice Center in Warrendale on Tuesday.

WARRENDALE — The Butler hockey team came into its first-round PIHL playoff game Tuesday night on a red-hot streak.

The Golden Tornado were quickly cooled by North Allegheny on the Baierl ice.

As in chilled to absolute zero.

The North Allegheny barrage started early and didn’t let up for a little more than a period of play. By the time the slush settled, the Tigers had a 7-1 lead and shell shocked Butler couldn’t recover in an 8-3 loss in the PIHL Class AAA playoffs.

“Maybe a lack of mental preparation,” said Butler coach Cory Sakolsky when trying to find an explanation for the poor start. “Some things you can’t coach. We can take fault for a lot of things, but when it comes down to drive and desire to win, that goes somewhere else, in my opinion.”

It took North Allegheny (12-7) just three minutes and two shots on goal to get on the board.

Read more about this game in Wednesday’s Butler Eagle.