Lakers hockey ride winning weekend into CIS Top 10
The Nipissing Lakers men’s hockey team is ranked ninth in the nation after knocking off the mighty Western Mustangs and Guelph Gryphons on the weekend to extend their record to 4-1-0.
The Lakers met Western on Friday night in the cozy confines of Memorial Gardens arena, for what would turn out to be a barn burner, ending in dramatic fashion with a shoot out goal off the stick of Lakers forward Danny Watt.
It was an extra special moment for Watt as his mother and father had flown in from their home in Manitoba to watch to the game.
After a 1-1 first period, with Jeff Leaist providing the home team goal, Western jumped out to stake a 4-1 lead in the second. Head coach Mike McParland pulled his starting goaltender in the hopes of lighting a fire under his team.
It worked.
The Lakers responded with two goals, by Kevin Rebelo and Brodie Beard respectively to close out the second period at 4-3.
"Going into the third period at home down 4-3, by no means are we out of it," McParland said. "We've shown more times this year that we can come back from being down a couple goals. We don't stop playing."
Lakers defenceman Jason Gray tied it up in the third, sending the game into overtime and setting up a memorable shoot out victory for the Watt family as well as the 1,308 cheering fans.
Western is ranked sixth in this week’s CIS Top Ten.
On Saturday, the Lakers played coach McParland’s alma mater, the Guelph Gryphons.
The Lakers stormed out to a 4-0 first period lead before Guelph came to life, scoring two goals and making the Lakers work to retain their lead.
Dorian Peca added the fifth and final goal for the Lakers, and his second of the night, at 14:20 of the third period to seal the deal for the Lakers.
Other Laker goals came from Kevin Rebelo, Paul Cianfrinia nd Connor O’Donnell.
CIS MEN’S HOCKEY TOP 10 (#1) released October 18, 2011
1. UNB (2-0-0) / 165 pts (15) / (-)
2. McGill (4-0-0) / 141 (1) / (-)
3. Manitoba (4-0-0) / 131 (1) / (-)
4. Acadia (2-0-0) / 99 / (-)
5. Saskatchewan (3-0-0) / 89 / (-)
6. Western Ontario (3-0-1) / 83 / (-)
7. StFX (1-1-0) / 70 / (-)
8. Alberta (2-1-1) / 53 / (-)
9. Nipissing (4-1-0) / 43 / (-)
10. Waterloo (3-1-0) / 22 / (-)
Other teams receiving votes: UPEI (12), Queen’s (9), UBC (9), UQTR (7), Brock (1), Lakehead (1).
Voting is based on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis, with a 1st place vote worth 10 points. The CIS Men’s Ice Hockey Top Ten Committee is made up of media members from across Canada.
(regular season record) / votes (first-place votes) / (previous rankings)