Box Score Missing four regulars and playing on short rest, the Waterloo Warriors men's hockey saw their 13-game point streak snapped. But they didn't go down without a fight.

The Warriors scored twice in the third period, but their comeback effort came up just short as they fell 3-2 to the Western Mustangs on Saturday afternoon in London.

It was Waterloo's first regulation loss since November 8, 2014, as the Warriors fell to 16-7-2 on the season. Meanwhile, the Mustangs jumped three points ahead of the Warriors for 2^nd place in the OUA West division with only two games remaining, as they improved to 18-6-1.

Colin Behenna (Waterloo) and Justin Larson (Buckhorn) scored for Waterloo in the loss, while Mike Morrison (Hamilton) made 29 saves for the black and gold. Trent Ouelette, Stephen Gaskin, and Trevor Warnaar found twine for the Mustangs, while Greg odds kicked away 28 shots in the victory.

Playing without leading scorer Chris Chappell (Pickering), captain Joe Underwood (Canton), and power forward Matt Kennedy (Oro Medonte) due to injury, and missing suspended forward Phillip Fife (Oromocto), the Warriors were in tough before the puck even dropped. But the visitors came out of the gates strong, getting their legs back under them less than 20 hours after beating the Brock Badgers 4-2 in St. Catharine's.

The Warriors had a few chances to get the game's first goal, but were unable to break through. With less than a minute to play in the opening frame, the Mustangs took advantage of a bad bounce and Ouelette scored an unassisted marker to give Western a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.

Waterloo's legs seemed to tighten up in the second, and the Mustangs made them pay. First, Gaskin ripped home a shot from the high slot on a delayed Waterloo penalty to make it 2-0 for the hosts. Then, Warnaar's wrister on the rush hit the stick of Waterloo defenceman Mike Moffat (Waterloo) and deflected past Morrison for a 3-0 Mustangs lead through two periods.

The Warriors started playing more desperate in the third, and they were able to find their legs again. With just under 10 minutes to play, Behenna one-timed a Brett Mackie (Whitby) feed behind Dodds to get Waterloo on the board. Then, after a few near-misses in the offensive zone, Larson scored in the game's final minute with the extra attacker to make it 3-2 Western. But in the game's closing seconds, the Warriors couldn't get possession for a sustained period, and the 'Stangs ran out the clock on Waterloo's point streak.

The Warriors will now prepare for the final weekend of regular season action, as they'll wrap up their home schedule against the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Friday night before heading down highway 7 to meet the Guelph Gryphons in the regular season finale on Saturday.

Notes: The Warriors went 0-for-2 on the power play, while Western went 0-for-4…After missing the fall term on an out-of-province co-op ploacement, Robin Clarke (Cambridge) made his season debut with the Warriors…Larson's third-period marker snapped his 10-game goalless drought.