Everything seemed in place for the Saline High School hockey team to continue its unlikely run into the MHSAA tournament — a quarterfinal game in its home arena, a huge and excited student section, two upset wins to ride in on and an opponent it saw in the regular season.

The only problem? That opponent was Trenton, the powerhouse program that has been a veritable hockey factory for years, and the Trojans weren’t about to slow down now, beating Saline 7-1 at the Arctic Coliseum in Chelsea to move on to the semifinals.

“It’s really amazing that a public school can do this year after year,” Saline coach Drew Denzin said. “They’re good in every facet of the game, and it’s hard to compete against a team that disciplined. They just never stop attacking, never stop skating.”

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The Hornets lost to Trenton 3-0 earlier this season, and Denzin thought that experience might help his team shake some of the butterflies that come from facing such a talented team.

But that was a regular-season game. In the Division 2 postseason, the Trojans are a whole new animal.

“The last time we saw them this deep into the tournament was 2006, so these guys weren’t around for that,” Denzin said. “You gotta get over seeing that ‘Trenton’ on the jersey across from you — especially when there’s so much on the line.”

And, early on, the Hornets weren’t intimidated. Denzin said he was very impressed with the first five minutes of the game, as Saline matched Trenton hit-for-hit and even got a few scoring chances.

The Hornets’ aggressive start came back to get them — Trenton scored on three power plays, including a backbreaking goal in the early goings of the second period, which put the Trojans up 3-0.

“When they move the puck as well as they do, it’s hard to keep up,” Denzin said. “But it’s not only the system; it was the effort, too. I think we got a little flustered when they put up a couple of goals on us.”

The large Saline contingent hadn’t had much to cheer until the Hornets finally got on the scoreboard with a power play goal of their own. Sophomore defenseman Rocco Corrunker banged in a rebound shot in a scrum around the net.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first period, Denzin knew Corrunker’s goal was huge — with a team as good as Trenton, the Hornets could ill afford to fall behind by more than a few goals.

But that was as close as the Hornets got.

Just a few minutes later, Corrunker was taking the puck back up the ice on yet another power play when he lost his footing — and the puck — giving Trenton senior Kody Polin a clear shot at goalie Connor Jennings, a big mismatch for the Hornets.

Polin wasn’t going to miss on such an easy shorthanded chance, giving him his third goal of the night. One anxious Trenton fan even threw his hat on the ice to celebrate Polin’s hat trick.

“That was a huge goal to give up,” Denzin said. “That gave them all the momentum, and we already were struggling to get anything going against their defense.”

Even though there were a lot of dejected faces walking off the ice after the game, Denzin told his players to be proud of their season Traditionally a strong program, the Hornets had not won a regional championship since 2006, so Denzin wanted his team to know that hanging a banner this season is a big accomplishment.

Trenton will play Muskegon Mona Shores -- a 4-3 overtime winner against Traverse City St. Francis on Tuesday -- in a Thursday semifinal.