With how tight the OUA East Division is, every point is crucial and while they were up against a very tough McGill Redmen team, the Nipissing Lakers men's hockey team won't be happy with how their first game of 2016 went.

The Lakers fell behind early and were unable to comeback in a physical, chippy affair that saw two misconducts and one game misconduct and an eventual 5-1 Redmen victory.

The Redmen struck first at the 8:36 mark of the first period to open the scoring.

Dominic Talbot-Tassi scored and picked up his first of three points on the night. Mathieu Pompei, who was front and centre all night, picked up one assist and David Rose earned the other.

McGill would extend their lead to 2-0 just over a minute later when Simon Tardif-Richard scored his first of two on the game.

In the second period, the Redmen made it 3-0 thanks to a power play goal just three minutes into the period.

The Lakers would respond, however, as Colin Campbell found the back of the net while Nipissing was on a 5-on-3 man advantage.

Guillaume Naud and Dylan Staples earned helpers on Campbell's team-leading ninth of the season.

McGill regained a three goal lead less than three minutes later when Liam Heelis tallied to make it 4-1.

And just before the period was out, Tardif-Richard scored his second of the game to make it 5-1 for the Redmen heading into the final period.

While there was no scoring, there was plenty of excitement in the third period, as the teams picked up their physical play.

A few scrums and misconducts were handed out, but in the end, McGill walked away with the two points.

Domenic Graham got the start in net for the Lakers, allowing five goals in 25 shots through 40 minutes, while Kirk Rafuse was strong in the third, turning aside all 10 shots sent his way.

McGill outshot the Lakers 35-20 overall.

Nipissing (8-7-3) will now hit the road for a pair of games, facing Waterloo (10-8-0) Saturday and Laurier (8-9-0) Sunday for their first road trip of 2016.