The Nipissing University Lakers ringette team attended a mixed tournament of university and non-university teams this past weekend in Kitchener and returned with a silver medal.

Their first game was played against the Brock University Badgers.  In their previous meeting last fall, Brock defeated Nipissing handily and in this game, Brock scored in the first minute of play, leading many of the Brock players to think they still had an edge over the Lakers.

However, the Nipissing players showed a new determination and proceeded to press the Badgers, who seemed surprised by the intensity offered by Nipissing.

The fast skating Lakers caused Brock to pick up five penalties in the first period and Nipissing made them pay. 

A goal by team captain Aly Stewart tied the score, and then assistant captain Deanna Noel followed with two goals of her own to give the Lakers a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period.  All three goals were scored on the power play.
In the second period, Nipissing continued to dominate with their superior speed and passing. Although they only scored one more goal, with Noel completing her hat trick, Nipissing was clearly the stronger team in this period, too. 

The final score was 4-1 for Nipissing.

For their second game, Nipissing met a non-university team from Toronto. Once again, the locals gave up the first goal in the first minute of play, but they fought back to take the lead by the end of the first period. 

Goals by Jaime Wilson and Emily Cole gave the team a 2-1 lead after one period, with veteran defender Sam Haefling assisting on both goals and first year defender Taylor Hughes, a North Bay native who played for many years in the West Ferris Ringette Association, providing one assist. 

In the second period, the teams traded goals, each team scoring 3 times. Cole scored her second of the game and Noel scored 2 more to make the final score 5-4 for Nipissing.  Haefling and Hughes continued their excellent playmaking, with Hughes assisting on all 3 goals and Haefling assisting on 2.  

The defence showed they could also play a big offensive role, with defenders contributing a total of 1 goal and 8 assists in this match. 

The third game of the weekend saw Nipissing meet Caledonia. Although Nipissing outplayed Caledonia, they could not find a way to beat the Caledonia goalie and lost 3-0.  

Both teams finished with 2-1 records, which was enough for both teams to make it to the finals.

In the gold medal game, Caledonia featured strong goaltending and opportunistic scoring. Nipissing outshot and outskated Caledonia by a wide margin, with more than three-quarters of the game being played in the Caledonia end, but once again, the Nipissing offense could not get a shot past their goalie.

Although they had limited opportunities, Caledonia benefitted by a few defensive lapses made by Nipissing, leading to breakaways that resulted in goals.

The final tally was 3-0 for Caledonia, giving them the gold while Nipissing earned silver.