Often returning home after a long road trip is just what a team needs to get back on track, but it was kind of the opposite for the Nipissing Lakers women's hockey team this weekend.

After dropping three straight games - one in overtime - to start the season, the Lakers hit the road for the first time Friday night and came up with a big win, their first of the 2015-16 campaign.

Kaley Tienhaara scored the eventual game-winner, Stacey Henshaw had two points and Jackie Rochefort was perfect in net, making 24 saves as Nipissing blanked the York Lions 3-0 in Toronto.

Nipissing scored a goal each period, all late in the frame, to pick up the win.

The first tally came when Tienhaara redirected a point shot by Henshaw to put the Lakers up 1-0. Zosia Davis picked up the other assist on the game's opening goal.

In the second, Sam Strassburger scored a shorthanded goal to make it 2-0 in a period where the Lions only got three shots and no good scoring chances.


In the third, the Lakers iced the game as Henshaw scored her first of the season to make it 3-0, more than enough for Nipissing and Rochefort to pick up win number one.

Carly Marchment drew the lone assist on the final tally of the game.

After losses at home, this road victory might be exactly what the Lakers needed to get going and heat up.

Nipissing is on the road once again today, taking on the Brock Badgers at 2:15 p.m. in St. Catherines.