Lakers hockey deliver win for Homecoming

The Nipissing University men’s hockey team caped off a great Saturday during Homecoming weekend by battling back to defeat the Ottawa Gee Gees 5-2 in their regular season home opener. Intrepid Nugget sports editor and Nipissing BEd grad Ken Pagan was there to catch the action; here’s his take on the game.Lakers win opener, but tough schedule aheadBy Ken Pagan, North Bay Nugget The Nipissing Lakers are clearly a more experienced team, but it was some of the new blood that got a five-goal rally started for their first win in a season-opener in three tries. Trailing 2-0 near the middle of the second period, the Lakers responded with five unanswered goals to pull out a 5-2 OUA men's hockey win over the Ottawa Gee Gees in front of 2,167 fans during the home-opener, Saturday. Rookie Marcus Watson opened the Lakers' scoring 5:36 into the second period, tapping Brogan Bailey's goalmouth feed into an empty net. After captain Brodie Beard tied the game seven minutes later on a highlight-reel rush down the right side — that brought the packed student section to its feet — Watson returned the favour, setting up Bailey for a tap-in for the eventual game-winner. Linemate Matt Paton also earned an assist on the play. Head coach Mike McParland credited the Paton-Watson-Bailey line for turning the momentum after a lacklustre first period during with the Gee Gees outshot the Lakers 16-12. 'We had a little bit of a talk after the first period," McParland said. "We weren't moving our legs. I just said 'Ottawa is playing Nipissing hockey right now.' They were pressuring the puck and putting us under pressure with the forecheck, we weren't hitting anybody and we had to get our legs moving. "In the second period, Paton's line had a good shift where Paton hit two or three guys and had a good chance and I thought that shift ignited the team. But we got through that first period thanks to some very key saves from Dan Spence." Spence stopped 28 of 30 shots to earn the win, surrendering a power-play goal to Stephen Blunden in the first period before Ottawa's Kyle Ireland jumped on a free-delivery turnover in the Lakers' zone early in the second period that made it 2-0. Despite trailing by two goals, the Lakers began taking charge, keeping the Gee Gees pressured in their own zone. "We made a conscious decision in the dressing room to put more pressure on the puck earlier and I think Matty (Paton) made a few big hits that turned things around," said Bailey, who netted the game-winner after tying for third in the country with four game-winners last year. "I think that's what got it all started. "It's a pleasure to play on a line with two guys who work that hard. I like to think I work pretty hard, too, so when you put the three of us together, it's just working out really well right now." In the final period, the Lakers shut down the Gee Gees attack before Doug Clarkson took Conor O'Donnell's drop pass inside the blue-line and fired a slapper off the far post to make it 4-2 with nine minutes left. Jason Gray, who also had an assist earlier in the game, iced the win with an empty-netter with 1:48 to go. The Lakers outshot the Gee Gees 35-30, with Ottawa goaler Russel Abbott making 30 saves. The Lakers start a season 1-0 for the first time, but the schedule gets tough in the next few weeks, with four games against West division opponents Laurier (15-7-6 last year), Waterloo (15-12-1), Western (20-3-5) and Guelph (15-10-3). In university hockey, there aren't many easy games and the Lakers face a challenge in repeating the success of a year ago, when they finished 17-8-3 and won a playoff round. "I personally think we overachieved last year by a lot," McParland said. "I think if we are able to finish with a record around what we had last year, or just under that, it would be definitely earned and that's a possibility.  "I don't think the guys are under pressure to do well, but I think they want to do well. It's a little different than putting yourself under pressure. These guys think and know and want to be as good as they can be." Bailey, in his second season with the Lakers, is looking forward to the challenge. "We went out and picked up guys like Watson and Paton and those guys, just to name two, are good hockey players," Bailey said. "Whenever you add a bunch of good players, you put more expectations on yourself. We know we have a better hockey team, so of course we want the standings to show that."