It would appear as if the Nipissing Lakers men's hockey team has found their groove, as they made it four straight wins thanks to a second consecutive perfect weekend.
Coming off two wins in Thunder Bay over Lakehead, the Lakers returned home and took care of business again, defeating Ryerson 4-3 and Toronto 6-3.
The wins and eight points have put the Lakers right back in the mix in the top half of the OUA East Division, sitting tied for third place with UOIT, as both teams have 15 points so far this season.
Saturday, the Lakers received multi-point games from five different players, led by
Chad Thibodeau's four assist effort as they led from start to finish to claim the win.
Erik Robichaud and
Colin Campbell each had two goals and an assist,
Guillaume Naud had a goal and an assist and
Mackenzie Keirstead added two assists in the victory.
Domenic Graham started the game, but battling an injury, played just the first period before
Kirk Rafuse took over and played a strong final 40 minutes to earn the win.
Nipissing scored two goals each period – outscoring Toronto 2-1 in all three frames en route to their biggest win of the season.
The Lakers led 2-1 after the first period thanks to Campbell and Robichaud, who scored early and late in the frame.
After Toronto tied the game less than a minute into the second period,
Jacob McDowell gave the Lakers the lead once again and Robichaud scored his second of the game just two minutes late to put Nipissing up 4-2.
Toronto cut into the lead once again, scoring midway through the third period to make it 4-3, but Naud's power play goal, along with Campbell's second tally of the game put the game away and secured the two points for Nipissing.
The Lakers ended up out-shooting Toronto 29-24 in the end.
Graham made seven saves in his only period of work, while Rafuse finished with 14 stops.
Nipissing is in the middle of a stretch of five straight home games which continues this weekend with a pair of games.
They host Concordia Friday night and UQTR Saturday night, with both games scheduled to start at 7 p.m. at Memorial Gardens.
