Lakers drop two games to Carleton in weekend varsity hockey action

The Nipissing Lakers, riding a 6 game winning streaking going into weekend OUA hockey action, may not seem as untouchable as previously thought.

The Lakers battled 2 hard fought games in a home at home series against the Carleton Ravens.  On Saturday night playing to a home crowd of 2,654 at Memorial Gardens, the Lakers crawled back in the third period and nearly tied the game.  The Lakers lost in a 5-4 decision in regulation.  Coach Mike McParland commented, “Carleton is the best team we have seen up to this point.”  Nipissing and Carleton are currently ranked 2 and 3, respectively, in the OUA Eastern Conference standings.

In first period action, the Lakers (6-3-1) fell behind to 2-0 against Carleton (6-4-0).  After a sloppy interference penalty by Lakers defenseman Josh McKinnon, Carleton’s Mark Smith notch the first goal of the game with a set up slap shot on the powerplay.  McKinnon later redeemed himself by scoring the Lakers fourth goal later in the game.

By the end of the second period, the Lakers found themselves down 4-0 with twenty minutes left to play.  Memories of the Lakers home opener against the Queen’s Golden Gaels in early October, where the Lakers found themselves in the same situation, began to formulate.

The Lakers strength came in their finishing game in the third period where the strong scoring line of Andrew Marcoux, Ryan Maunu, and Dan Watt put the puck past Carleton’s goaltender Ryan Dube on a power-play opportunity.  The line scored again in reply to Carleton’s fifth goal with a slap shot by Marcoux that hit Dube’s glove and went into the net.  Now at a 5-2 game, the fans that had already left were about to miss the excitement of third period action that the Lakers pride themselves on.

With 5 minutes left in the game, Maunu tipped a pass from Watt that went through the legs of Dube.  Suddenly, the Lakers were back in the game and the fans were ecstatic.  Another Carleton penalty allowed McKinnon’s redemption with a turnover slap shot from the blue line that resulted in an unassisted goal.  However, the Lakers were unable to force overtime, even with goaltender Kyle Cantlon on the bench for the extra attacker with a minute remaining.  McParland commended Cantlon’s performance after the game.  “Carleton’s transition was really good.  Kyle [Cantlon] can be better but he saved us a couple of times.”  Cantlon stopped twenty shots in the match.

Scoring for the Lakers in Saturday’s game were Marcoux, 2, Maunu, and McKinnon.  Assists went to Maunu, 2, and Watt, 3.  The Lakers out shot Carleton 33-25.  In Friday night action in Ottawa, the Lakers fell 4-1 to Carleton.

The Lakers travel to St. Catharines this Friday to play Brock University’s Badgers.  The next home game for the Lakers is Friday, November 20^th when Waterloo visits Memorial Gardens for a 7:00pm puck drop.

(Photos courtesy of Marc LaRochelle)

Lakers Open Regular Season; Fall to Queen’s 5-4 in Shoot Out

By Ian S. Wassink

The first official game of Nipissing University OUA hockey is now in the books.

The Nipissing Lakers men’s hockey team played an amazing come from behind game Friday night against the Queen’s Golden Gaels.  After a sluggish first period and being down 1-0, the Lakers found themselves quickly down 4-0 at the end of the second period.  With four unanswered goals in the third period, the Lakers struck back and outplayed the Gaels to tie the game.  After a four on four overtime period that lasted five minutes, there was still no decision.  A shootout followed with Ryan Maunu and Matt Lahey failing to score.  Queen’s won the shoot out 2-0 and resulted in a 5-4 game.  Both teams get a point for the tie and Queen’s gets the extra point for the win.

Despite downing the home opener in a shoot out, the Lakers had many chances to seal the fate of the Gaels.  Two good chances occurred for the Lakers at the start of the second period.  After bobbling to the right side of Queen’s goaltender Mackenzie Ball, the puck was quickly shot away.  A quick pass by Lakers centre Nathan Hewitt to Josh McKinnon prompted a hard shot by the defenseman that resulted in a glove save by Ball.

However, the Lakers started to see the game pull away from them when a short-handed goal was scored by Queen’s forward Jonathon Lawrance in the last half of the second period.  Another two goals, separated by 21 seconds, were put past Lakers goaltender Kyle Cantlon with three minutes left in the period.  It seemed that something would have to happen in the Lakers dressing room to bring the game back to life.  For newly appointed Lakers captain and right-winger Matt Lahey, that is exactly what happened.

“We talked about the second period in the dressing room and we figured this game wasn’t over until the final buzzer rang.”  Lahey is a former draft pick and player from the Ottawa ‘67s (OHL) and the Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL).  “Mike [head coach] talked to us and figured if we could score one goal every five minutes then we would be back into the hockey game and force overtime.”

The Lakers answered that call and scored four goals in the third period including one short-handed and one powerplay.  With no goals scored in overtime, a shootout ensued.  The Lakers did not earn the extra point despite the efforts of Lakers shooters Maunu and Lahey.  Despite taking the loss in extra time, the Lakers deserve to be applauded.

“We really have a special group of guys,” notes Lakers coach Mike McParland.  “We came out in the third period with an outstanding job and we had Queen’s so far back on their heels I don’t think they could look forward anymore.”

The Lakers head to the University of Quebec Trois-Rivieres for their next regular season game on Friday, October 9.  The next home game for the Lakers is Friday, October 16 against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues at 7:00pm in Memorial Gardens.

Sean Ryan (4), Ryan Maunu (9), help Nipissing Lakers goaltender Matt Hache defend against Ottawa Gee Gee's Simren Sandhu (11) on Saturday, September 19, 2009.  Ottawa went on to win the exhibition game 3-2 in overtime (Ian Wassink photo).

Lakers Impress Crowd in Exhibition Action

By Ian S. Wassink

North Bay received the first taste of what university level hockey is like Saturday night and the crowd was impressed with what they saw.  The University of Ottawa Gee Gees made the trip to North Bay and was welcomed with a thundering cheer in Memorial Gardens when the Nipissing University Lakers took to the ice for the puck drop at 7 p.m. 

After regulation play, the game was tied 2-2.  Due to similar rules used in the OHL and NHL, the teams played five minutes of 4-on-4 overtime action until the Gee Gees notched the extra point to win the game 3-2 with 3:42 left in OT.  In regular season play, both teams would receive one point for the tie and an extra point for the win in OT (or a shoot out if the game was still tied after the five-minute OT).

First period action saw the Lakers defenceman Sean Ryan receive the first penalty for hooking barely a minute into the game.  Ottawa scored first, with 5:38 left in the period after receiving a tripping penalty three minutes prior.  With two minutes left in the first period, Lakers defenceman John Quarrie, recruited from the Oshawa Generals, fanned on a shot in the attacking zone due to a broken stick that resulted in an Ottawa break.  An amazing save by Lakers goaltender Kyle Cantlon halted the play.

The second period saw the Lakers increase their shots on goal margin as they matched the Gee Gees strong play.  It was merely three minutes into the period when Ryan Maunu scored the Lakers first goal just 13 seconds into a two player advantage power play.  Maunu, formerly of Lakehead and the Soo Thunder was happy that his goal restored motivation to the team and the crowd. 

“It felt good to get one under the belt to get the guys going,” he said. 

After both teams changed goaltenders, the score remained 1-1 at the end of the second.  The Lakers continued to perform and outshoot the Gee Gees 29-10.

The third period featured penalties handed to both teams until the Gee Gees notched their second goal of the game at the 6:29 mark.  The Lakers quickly responded and answered with a goal of their own by Andrew Marcoux, who previously played with the Mississauga Ice Dogs.  The Ottawa game winner went to Matthieu Methot, a veteran with the Gee Gees, who scored an unassisted goal in overtime. 

The Lakers out shot the Gee Gees 47-14 despite losing the game 3-2.  If anything is certain, the Lakers have shown that they can compete at the OUA level.

Campus Free Press Launches Sports Blog

Welcome to the Campus Free Press online sports blog!  Here you'll be able to view information and news regarding sports on the campuses of Nipissing University and Canadore College.  Want to be a blog contributor?  E-mail cfpsport@gmail.com for more information.