Westborough, MA — With 10 minutes to play in the second period, Wachusett found itself trailing to Marlboro 3 - 0 even though the game was tightly played. Wachusett finally got on the board with 6:14 remaining in the 2nd when Xavier McManus hustled down the right side and stole a puck from a Marlboro defender, centered a pass to Jason Flaherty who got off a spin around back-hander to the back of the net. A major penalty left the Mountaineers shorthanded for the last 5 minutes of the second period and an additional minor penalty forced a 5 on 3 situation in favor of Marlboro for an entire 2 minutes. The PK units for Wachusett did a great job killing off both penalties and creating a couple shorthanded opportunities. This seemed to turn the momentum for what would be a great third period. With under 3 minutes to play in the 3rd, Thomas Willman took a pass from Braeden McKenzie in the neutral zone and skated up the left side. Willman fired a low hard shot that appeared to ricochet off the post and into the corner, but the referee signaled a goal, pulling Wachusett within 1. Less than 30 seconds later, McKenzie would score the equalizer with 2:16 left in the game...a wrist shot from right inside the blue line that found its way home through a great screen in front of the goalie by McManus. Jardine and Flaherty recorded assists on the goal. It appeared that Wachusett had all the momentum as they set up for an offensive zone faceoff with 20 seconds to play. But, Marlboro would poke the puck out of the zone and with only 5 seconds left in regulation, the Panthers scored on a rebound off a shot from the point. Tough loss for the green and white in one of their better 3rd periods of the season. Casey Dmochowski was solid again in net for Wachusett stopping 24 of the 28 shots he faced. Wachusett is now 5 and 2 on the year and will travel to the Wallace Civic Center on Saturday for a 7:10 puck drop against the Leominster Blue Devils.