UNIVERSITY PARK — Kyle Thomas didn’t downplay his disappointment following the Mars hockey team’s 5-2 loss to Bayard Rustin in the Class A Pennsylvania Cup Saturday at Pegula Ice Arena.

The loss stung.

When Thomas redirected a shot by Ian Houk-Graves into the net, the Planets were ahead 2-1 and 14 minutes, 49 seconds away from a state title.

Mars didn’t finish. But Thomas was pleased about other things.

The Planets won their fourth Penguins Cup, stopping Quaker Valley’s streak of three straight PIHL titles.

Then Mars gave the defending state champions all they could handle.

“The whole season’s been a blessing,” Thomas said. “It was great to do this and obviously beating that Quaker dynasty and shutting them down was awesome for Mars as a whole. I can’t wait for the Mars team after me to come up and do the same thing.”

The Golden Knights (23-1-4) won their third state title and became the first team to repeat as champs since Mars won in 2010 and 2011.

“Nobody has outplayed us like that all year long,” Golden Knights coach Nick Russo said. “They say goaltending is 75 percent of the game, unless you don’t have it, then it’s 100 percent. That’s what it came down to.”

Bayard Rustin certainly had the goaltending. Golden Knights netminder Jason Grande made 40 stops.

Planets coach Steve Meyers wanted Mars to be aggressive.

“We watched some tape and saw their defense was kind of bigger and slow,” Meyers said. “That works to our advantage. That’s exactly what we like. We thought if we dumped pucks in we could be all over them.”

Bayard Rustin scored first when Tommy Sloan wristed a puck past Planets goaltender Tyler Spreng with 3:35 left in the first period. Paul Maust evened the game 17 seconds later.

Neither team scored again until the third period.

Mars outshot Bayard Rustin 42-17, including 13-3 in the second period.

“That whole game we outplayed them and dominated them,” Houk-Graves said. “We just couldn’t finish and couldn’t get the bounces.”

Bayard Rustin’s Eric Flynn evened the game three minutes after Thomas’ goal.

He rushed in on net and had a shot saved by Spreng, who made 13 stops. The puck bounced back to Flynn, who lifted it over Spreng’s leg pads.

“Defensive-zone support is what we were lacking tonight,” Thomas said. “Getting back and having the defense and center be able to find the rebound and clear it from the front of the net.”

Brett Christie scored the go-ahead goal on an outstanding individual effort.

Christie stole the puck at the blue line, skated around Houk-Graves, had his first shot stopped before putting the second chance into the net.

Michael Grande added an insurance goal with 3:49 remaining, rocketing a shot into the top corner.

“I thought our guys did a good job of staying composed after that. In these one-of f playoffs, the best team doesn’t always win and I think we proved tonight we’re the better team in my eyes,” Meyers said. “They had a good gameplan, when they waited and waited and attacked when they got openings.”

When Bayard Rustin scored its last goal, no Golden Knight noticed. Michael Grande cleared the puck toward the empty net and it crossed the goal line with .5 seconds remaining.

By the time it reached the net, Bayard Rustin’s bench had cleared and the glass was littered with helmets, gloves and skates.

It wasn’t the ending Houk-Graves envisioned. But after the Planets had uncertain expectations in the preseason, he also wasn’t disappointed in the journey.

“The younger guys stepped it up and we picked each other up when we were down,” Houk-Graves said. “It was a roller coaster, but we got through it. Yeah, we lost, but we played a hell of a game and I don’t think we could have done any better as a team. Just get more bounces.”