Plum is charging into the stretch run of the PIHL regular season on a seven-game winning streak.
Coming off a 7-0 rout of South Park on Jan. 19, Plum has six games remaining, starting with a matchup with Wheeling Central Catholic at 8:10 p.m. Thursday at Pittsburgh Ice Arena in New Kensington.
“The identity we’ve built has been of a relentless hockey team,” said coach Jon Gratton, who oversees a lineup that has just one senior and is commanded by an experienced group of five junior captains.
“No matter how a game goes, the plan doesn’t change, and we’re going to keep coming at you. That is what has worked for us, and that is what we will bring into these final six games before the playoffs.”
Plum continues to seek victories in the fight for the postseason.
The top seven teams in each of the two Class A divisions make the playoffs. Mars, Chartiers Valley, Avonworth and Butler have clinched playoff berths from the Gold division.
West Allegheny (9-6-1, 27 points) and Plum (9-5-0, 24 points) are right behind those top four in the standings. The Mustangs earned a crucial two points with a 5-2 win over the Indians on Jan. 8. The teams meet again in the regular-season finale Feb. 19 at the Baierl Ice Complex in Cranberry.
“We want to go after every point we can,” Gratton said. “We want to play the right way to get ourselves ready for the playoffs. We’re real confident we’re going to get there. We’re going to control what we can control and not worry about what anyone else is doing. I know that whoever we see come playoff time is going to get our best game.”
That confidence in how the team is playing isn’t lost on the players, including junior Colby Bartos, a team co-captain with forwards Andy Verrengia and A.J. Leah and defensemen Alex LeDonne and Max Keller.
“We want to make a run this year,” Bartos said. “The past two years have been first-round exits. We’re building a lot of momentum for the playoffs. We’re hot at the right time.”
Gratton said he hoped his team would get a chance to skate together at a practice Sunday evening, but the massive snowstorm that hit the region throughout the day scuttled the plans.
“It wasn’t ideal, but I am so confident with the leadership and the mindset of this group that I am not concerned about what team is going to show up on Thursday,” Gratton said.
Plum lost five in a row after a 2-0 start, but those setbacks came in competitive fashion against the four division leaders.
Gratton said his youthful group gained a lot of confidence and experience during that stretch despite wins not showing up on the scoreboard. Players, he said, had stepped into bigger varsity roles, and some had gained additional leadership responsibilities. It was a melting pot that Gratton said set itself up for what was next to happen.
“We were playing the top teams in the division,” Gratton said. “We were in every game, and you could feel that. You could feel how hard those games were to play for both teams. It was a bounce here and there that went the wrong way for us. But nobody was panicking, and we felt that things were going the right way, and it was going to turn for us.”
Bartos, too, saw what this team could do as it kept grinding and pushing.
“We’re all just really close off the ice, too, and it translates to what we do in practice and in games,” Bartos said. “That helped when we weren’t winning those games. It made us stronger, and now we just support each other so much and know that everyone has a role in how we are winning games. We can be relaxed and loose, but we also know when to flip the switch and be focused and locked in.”
The current win streak started Nov. 24 as Plum completed the season sweep of Greensburg Salem with an 8-3 triumph.
Leah powered the Mustangs offense with four goals, including one on the power play. Bartos, freshman Josh Lewis, sophomore Tyler Bartos and junior Scott Pushic added scores for Plum.
Sophomore Brody Gribbin stopped 28 of 31 shots.
Plum has outscored opponents 41-12 during the seven-game win streak, and overtime wins over Mars and Chartiers Valley, a little revenge for the earlier losses to the Planets and Colts, had the team flying high.
Chartiers Valley (12-1-3, 38 points) outshot Plum 32-21 in the Jan. 15 matchup at the Mt. Lebanon Ice Center, but even-strength goals from sophomore Cole Tomain and senior Anthony Smith helped get the Mustangs to overtime.
There was only one shot in overtime, and it came from the stick of Keller, who buried the winner off an assist from sophomore Joseph Massarelli 58 seconds into the extra session.
Massarelli finished with two assists.
Plum followed the Chartiers Valley win with perhaps its most complete game of the season in the 7-0 victory over South Park. The Mustangs defense, led by Smith, Keller, LeDonne, Massarelli and junior Matthew Amen, limited the Eagles to 10 shots on backup goaltender Miles Solomon.
“It was awesome to see everyone step up for Miles,” Gratton said.
Plum fired 41 shots and got goals from seven skaters: Lewis, LeDonne, Leah, Pushic, Colby Bartos, Massarelli and sophomore Liam McMahon.
Plum erupted for six goals in the second period to quickly put the game on ice. It started with a power-play tally from LeDonne off an assist from Leah.
“The first period was a little rough, but then we flipped the switch and got rolling,” Bartos said. “We got that first goal (in the second period), and it energized everyone.”