The Nipissing Lakers women's hockey team came within one shot – a shorthanded breakaway in fact – of upsetting the top team in the CIS this past weekend.
And while they did fall short, if they can keep pace with the Guelph Gryphons, who have won seven in a row, they should be in good shape when they head down south to face the Toronto Varsity Blues and Ryerson Rams this weekend.
The Lakers are now 5-1-2 in their past eight games with all three defeats coming by just one goal.
And in that stretch of five wins, four were shutout victories.
Friday's matchup between the Lakes and Varsity Blues see teams separated by just three points for fifth in the OUA.
After starting the season with seven straight wins, Toronto has dropped their past three games – one in overtime and one in a shootout – and are looking to get back on track with their final games before the semester break.
The Lakers have taken a different path to this point, losing their first three games of the year, reeling off five wins after that, but falling short in their past two games, including Saturday overtime setback to Guelph.
While it's not fair to say the Lakers offence has struggled, it isn't exactly tearing up the league, either.
So far, through 11 games, Nipissing has just 16 goals led by
Brooklyn Irwin and
Sam Strassburger who both have three.
And while the offence is scoring at just over a goal a game, the team's defence has been almost perfect aside from one bad game against Waterloo.
With just 18 goals against, the Lakers rank six in the OUA and have four shutouts so far this year.
Based on the standings, stats and their recent results, there is a pretty good chance the Lakers and Varsity Blues will play a low-scoring game Friday night.
In their second match up of the weekend, Nipissing will take on the struggling Rams.
Sitting second last in the OUA, the Rams have lost three straight and have only one win to this point in the year.
Their win came after five straight losses to start the season and is now being followed by three more defeats.
Ryerson has scored a league-low nine goals in nine game – just on per game and they've been shutout four times, including their past two losses.
While you can't predict on paper how these games will go, the matchups are favourable for the Lakers who are 3-1-1 on the road.
Puck drop for both games are schedule for 7:30pm – Friday versus Toronto and Saturday against Ryerson.
