Marlborough boys hockey beats Algonquin to win Daily News Cup for first time in 5 years

MARLBOROUGH — With the Daily News Cup final tied at two with 4:03 left in the third period, Marlborough senior captain Mark Evangelous scored the go-ahead goal to give the Panthers a 3-2 lead.

"The adrenaline was crazy," said Evangelous of the score in front of a raucous Panther contingent at New England Sports Center. "That was just the best feeling I've ever felt."

The Marlborough boys hockey team went on to defeat Algonquin, 5-2, to claim its first Daily News Cup title since 2016, and seventh Daily News Cup overall.

"Obviously, it's been a little bit for us," Panthers coach Mike O'Brien said. "Once the newspaper and the schools decided to go forward with this tournament and came together that they were going to honor Wes, for us and the kids, (it was great)."

Fresh off of a Boroughs Cup win on Dec. 18, Wednesday night's victory marks the first time since 2007 that Marlborough (5-0-1, 1-0 Quinn) won both the Boroughs Cup and Daily News Cup in the same season.

"That's really special," O'Brien said. "That's quite a stretch for us to go without getting both, but it's even been 10 years before we won the Boroughs Cup again. These guys are playing well right now and deserve all the credit."

This year's Daily News Cup was dedicated to longtime New England Sports Center general manager and youth hockey pioneer Wes Tuttle, who died on Sept. 19, 2020. Since there was no Daily News Cup last year due to COVID-19 concerns, this was the first Daily News Cup since Tuttle's death.

"The connection to Wes for these guys, I'm really happy that these guys won this year's tournament," O'Brien said. "I can't say enough about Wes. He did a lot of things for a lot of people and myself included and the Marlborough hockey program. So I'm really happy that the kids won it for themselves and for Wes this year.

"To honor Wes and what Wes meant for everybody, the guys were really excited and hoping for the opportunity to play for the championship. Now that they've won it, all the credit goes to the kids and it is a great way to honor Wes' memory for the first year of having the tournament back and having Marlborough win it."

Evangelous' two-goal performance, including the game winner, earned himself the first ever Daily News Cup Wes Tuttle MVP Award.

"It's unbelievable, I can't even put it into words really," said Evangelous on being named MVP. "He had been coaching me for a while, it's just great to honor him. This was for him."

Algonquin (3-2, 3-0 Quinn) got the scoring started with 6:11 left in the first period when senior captain Ben Cotter buried a power-play goal after receiving a centering pass from Sam Salvi and Tommy Hauck.

Evangelous then scored his first goal 1:07 into the second period to tie things up at one apiece. Less than a minute later, teammate Jeremy LaCroix gave the Panthers their first lead of the game.

That lead was short lived, however, as Hauck tied things back up at 2-2 with 11:25 left in the second period.

"Again, you go to the third period and it's tied against these guys," O'Brien said. "This is more what I thought, not the other game in the Boroughs Cup where we got out to a little bit of a lead on them and they played a little bit of catch-up.

"Tonight, it was back and forth right into the third period again."

Just over two minutes after Evangelous' go-ahead score, LaCroix scored his second goal of the game to give Marlborough some insurance with 1:56 left in the game. Braden Deckers finished the scoring with an empty netter with 1:30 left.

"We hung in there a little bit better than last time against them," said Algonquin assistant coach Sky Moore, who took over in the absence of head coach Greg Capello, who was out with an illness. "Until the last four minutes, our goalie bailed us out when we needed to in that second period. ... He kept us in the game in that third period and gave us a shot to win it.

"Those Marlborough guys just closed it out when they had the chance."

Despite the loss, Moore welcomed the chance to honor Tuttle by playing in this year's Daily News Cup.

"It means a lot," Moore said. "We've known him for years, even before this rink was even built when he was over at Navin (Arena) running that. ... I think our kids still remember him so it's a great honor to play in this tournament."

The Daily News doled out Outstanding Player awards to Hudson's Paul Melo, Algonquin's Colin Connors and Marlborough's Marcus Chrisafideis for their individual efforts over the two-day tournament.

For Marlborough, getting the chance to play in the Daily News Cup this season and win it for the first time in five years, means a lot. The Panthers hope it's a stepping stone for what's to come.

"Winning this cup, especially after coming off the Boroughs Cup, gives us a ton of momentum and confidence for the rest of the season," LaCroix said. "Winning both those tournaments for the first time in so long shows the whole team the potential we have."

Ethan Winter is a senior multimedia sports journalist at the Daily News. He can be reached at ewinter@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @EWints.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Marlborough boys hockey beats Algonquin, wins Daily News Cup