Women’s Hockey eyeing upset in Round 1

The hard work, dedication and effort has paid off and Wednesday night, we’ll see a first for the Nipissing Lakers women’s hockey program, as they open up their first ever playoff series.

Thanks to four wins in their final five games of the regular season, the Lakers will make their post-season debut and look for an upset right off the bat.

The Lakers will play the Western Mustangs in the first round, with the Mustangs having home ice advantage, playing Games 2 and 3 at home after opening up the series at Nipissing for Game 1.

Both matchups this year were tight, well played contests and were both decided by one goal.

In their first meeting of the year, the Mustangs edged the Lakers 2-1 in North Bay and in their final meeting, once again it was the Mustangs who claimed victory, but it took a shootout to do so.

The Lakers erased a two goal deficit, fought back and forced overtime, but fell short in the shootout as the Mustangs would score the only goal to give them the extra point.

Regardless of what took place in the regular season, the Lakers are fully prepared and confident that if they play the way they did in the final stretch of the regular season, it’s going to give them a great opportunity to be successful.

In the final five games of the season, where the Lakers went 4-1-0, they surrendered only four goals, recorded back-to-back shutouts and scored 10 goals of their own.

Timely goals, strong defensive play and outstanding goaltending have all added up for the Lakers at the right time and they’re going to need all those aspects to continue in the playoffs.

The post-season starts for the Lakers Wednesday night at home, as they host the Mustangs at 7 p.m. at Memorial Gardens.

Game 2 is Friday at 7 p.m. at Western and, if necessary, Game 3 will be Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. at Western.