The Nipissing Lakers men’s hockey team have been on a roll since the Christmas break and it continued into the post-season with a 4-0 victory over the Ottawa Gee-Gees.
Coming off an extended break due to the COVID-19 pandemic delaying and cancelling games, the Lakers went 6-2-0-1 in the second half to finish second in the East division.
But with the Ontario University Athletic playoffs moving to a must-win format for the entirety of the post-season, the Lakers final recorded didn’t matter much when they needed to be the better team after 60 minutes of play. Also throwing a wrench into the playoff picture is the fact the conference was merged together to figure out playoff seeding, which meant that after facing only Queens, RMC and Ontario Tech all season, the Lakers had to play an Ottawa team they had yet to see all year.
“We didn’t see the other team this entire year, so it was a big surprise to play against them,” says Lakers forward Gael Lubwele.
“It’s difficult to prepare for a team you haven’t seen, especially in a must-win scenario, but we watched a lot of videos and we just have to prepare the same way we do no matter who the opponent is.”
Lubwele opened the scoring for the Lakers sending a puck over the shoulder of goaltender Anand Oberoi at 3:58 of the first period to put the home side ahead 1-0.
“It felt really good to score that one, I think myself and the seniors had a lot of weight on our shoulders here on Seniors Night,” says Lubwele.
“It was a bit emotional today but it felt great to get that first goal and you could feel the energy jump on the bench and it gave us the start we needed.”
At 8:46 of the first, Harrison Caines touched a puck in the blue paint to shove it over the goal line after Charles Farmers shot went off Parker Bowman at the side of the net and underneath the goaltender who lost sight of it, before Caines got the last touch.
The Lakers then took that 2-0 lead all the way into the third period before Brock Welsh scored a similar goal to that of Caines, where the puck was sitting on the door step after a deflection and Welsh sent it into the back of the net, putting the Lakers ahead 3-0 at 6:21.
The Lakers would fend off a 5-on-3 penalty kill mid-way through the third period that would result in the Gee-Gees best opportunity to score.
They were stymied by the terrific goal tending of Michael Herringer who was making his OUA playoff debut and stopped all 28 shots that came his way for a post-season shut out.
“It was great to see,” says Lubwele about Herringers’ shut out.
“Having him in the net gives us a lot of confidence as a team and he put on a great show today and the score showed it.”
With the Lakers win in the Eastern Quarterfinals and McGill upsetting Queens, the Lakers, as of the writing of this article, are expected to host the Eastern Semifinals on Saturday at Memorial Gardens.
