WARRENDALE — Call this team Mars II — and the sequel may be better than the original.

Jake Robash scored his second hat trick in as many games as the Planets cruised past Freeport 8-0 in a PILLClass A hockey game Tuesday night at Warrendale BladeRunners.

Mars (2-0) had a 48-11 edge in shots on goal and has outscored its first two opponents 18-0, having opened the season with a 10-0 win over Westmont Hilltop.

""We have a lot of depth and a lot of talent,"Mars coach Tim Coleman said "I don't know if we're better than last year, but I think we're as skilled.

"I used four lines continuously tonight and I'll use three or four lines Thursday (at Serra Catholic)."

The Planets reached the Penguins Cup championship game last year before bowing to Quaker Valley.

Freeport coach Dave Hepler described Mars as having "an awfully good team.

"They should win it all," he said.

The Yellowjackets (1-3) have already played Bishop McCort, Sewickley Academy and Serra Catholic — three of the top-rated teams in Class A— this year.

"Granted, it's early and those teams might have been missing some guys, but Mars is at least three steps better than all of them — maybe five steps," Hepler said.

Freeport had the first true scoring chance Tuesday when a Mars defenseman stumbled while going for the puck along his own blue line and Yellowjackets forward Shane Gallagher stormed in on a breakaway.

Planets goaltender Tyler Stepke made the save, however, less than four minutes into the contest. John Reichenbaugh tested Stepke later with a couple of hard wrist shots from the slot, but the netminder was up to the task.

Matt Wingert scored the Planets' first goal, taking Andrew Santa's pass from behind the net and snapping it past Freeport goalie Cody Lee with 9:03 left in the first period.

The goals came steadily after that, despite numerous quality saves from Lee.

"We've got four to six really good hockey players and they've got a team full,"Hepler said. "We'll do OKthis year, probably finish around .500, but we can't stay with a team like that one."

Brady Sipe, a defenseman for Mars last year, was moved to forward and plays on a line with Robash and Mike Mazzotta. That line scored five of the Planets' eight goals Tuesday.

Mazzotta had two goals and two assists, defenseman Steve Tracy had three assists and Tyler Whiteford, another defenseman, scored a goal.

Mars had 17 shots on goal in both the first and second periods.

Both teams had one minor penalty. Mars scored on its lone power play.

"It's a long season and we have to stay focused,"Coleman said. "Potentially, this team can go a long way.

"We only gave up 10 shots on goal in our first game. Whiteford is a 6-foot-4, 230-pound defenseman, Tracy's back there — we're strong all the way around."

Stepke and Marty Lamneck are splitting time in goal this season.

Whiteford and Derek Sitterly scored unassisted goals for the Planets.

Mars plays at Serra Catholic Thursday while Freeport plays Nov. 13 at Richland.