The Nipissing Lakers women’s hockey team had quite the regular season, finishing with program-bests in a number of categories, including wins and overall ranking. The Lakers finished with a 17-4-3 record, which was good for second place in the OUA. In the national rankings, the Lakers come in at ninth place overall in the country. While those statistics and the hard work involved in achieving them are something to be proud of, the real test begins tonight.
The Lakers begin the playoffs against their northern rivals, the Laurentian Voyageurs, who finished the regular season in seventh place. The Lakers swept the season series against the Voyageurs, beating them 4-1 on November 12th in Sudbury and 3-2 on November 26th in North Bay.
The series kicks off tonight at Memorial Gardens, before the series shifts to Sudbury on Saturday and if necessary it would return to Memorial Gardens on Sunday night. Nipissing was able to find success this season thanks to outstanding goaltending (Lakers goalie Jackie Rochefort finished third in GAA, and first in save percentage) stifling defence (The Lakers were second in goals against this season) and balanced scoring (seven players with 10 points or more), and all those things will need to continue in the playoffs if they’re going to be successful.
