For the first time in program history, the Nipissing Lakers Women’s Hockey team finish the season as U Sports silver medalists, losing the championship game 4-0 to the Concordia Stingers.
Concordia were riding a 10-game winning streak going into the tournament that includes a two-game sweep of the McGill Martlets in their conference championship series as they claimed the No. 1 seed at the start of the tournament en route to claiming the Golden Path Trophy as the top team in Canada.
About half way through the opening period Lakers goaltender Chloe Marshall made a tremendous save with her team on the power play. The Lakers turned the puck over in their own zone allowing Stingers forward Stephanie Lalancette to have all the time in the world at the top of the face-off circle and with the glove side of the net wide open she unleashed a shot. Somehow, Marshall got across in time. She went down in a full leg split, threw out the glove hand and absolutely robbed Lalancette of what should’ve been the first goal of the game.
The true first goal of the game came at near the end of the second period. With Concordia on their fourth power play of the game, Stingers forward Maria Manarolis snuck in behind the defence and tucked the puck under the right leg of Marshall. Not only was it the first goal of the game, it was the first goal allowed by the Lakers in the entire tournament, spanning three games, almost eight periods, and over 160 game minutes.
Lalancette got revenge for being robbed in the first when she found the back of the net in the third. Skating into the slot she lifted a shot high through traffic that went over the right shoulder of Marshall, giving the Stingers a 2-0 lead less than five minutes into the third.
The Lakers pushed on the attack, looking to get those goals back. But a turnover in the neutral zone sprung Concordia Captain Audrey Belizle for a breakaway and she beat Marshall to give the Stingers a 3-0 lead at 13:05.
Lalancette would add an empty net goal for her second of the game to round out the scoring at 17:47.
This is the farthest a team from Nipissing University has ever come to winning a U sports national championship, finishing as the number two team in the country.
On twitter, the Nipissing Lakers account tweeted, “Part of the journey is the end. Thanks for a great ride, #Lakers! A silver medal you can be proud of.
And it was a terrific ride all season long.
Madison Solie is one of five graduating players for the Lakers this year. She had a big tournament scoring two goals and playing terrific defense throughout the three games. Going into the gold medal final, Solie said, “I think the biggest thing going into a National Championship game is coming to play from the drop of the puck and pushing hard for a full team effort 60-minute game.”
She added, “That is what is most important to me is putting in the work and the results will come. I had no doubt that we would be in the final game and I will be going into the game with the same effort and intensity as the rest of the games played so far. There’s nothing to save it for, we’re going for gold.”
Team Captain and senior player Katelyn Heppner reflected on her last season saying, “It’s an honour to be named captain but to be named in my final year was extra special. I couldn’t be prouder of this team and everything we’ve accomplished this year.”
Heppner says, “So many doubted us or didn’t know who the lakers were but we knew exactly what we were capable of and went out and proved people wrong. I couldn’t imagine playing this year with any other team and every single person was an integral part of this historic season.”
During the medal ceremony following the game, Heppner had the honour of placing the medals around her teammates.
She says, “When putting the medals around their necks I felt so proud. Our team accomplished something that no one at Nipissing has done and we should be insanely proud of what we did today.”
North Bay native Maria Dominico finished as the player of the game for the Nipissing Lakers.
The team captured the attention of everyone in the local hockey community and beyond over the last few weeks with over 1500 supporters in attendance for their OUA championship game against Brock at Memorial Gardens, and many taking to social media to show their support for the team.
Nipissing University President Kevin Wamsley wrote on twitter, “The team @nulakers is nothing short of spectacular. What a ride! We are so proud of a silver medal at the National Championships. Congratulations @The_Stingers @Concordia.”
North Bay City Councillor Johanne Brousseau wrote, “North Bay Proud. Congratulations to Nipissing University Lakers and Darren Turcotte. You are number one in our books.”
Retired Police Chief Paul Cook said, “So proud of coach Darren Turcotte and our @NULakersWHKY team for their outstanding efforts and success they experienced this season!”
