With the playoffs just around the corner, the Nipissing Lakers women's hockey team is looking to finish the regular season with a few wins.
The Lakers wrap up the home portion of the regular season schedule this weekend, when they host the Queens Gaels and UOIT Ridgebacks this weekend, before finishing the season on the road against Guelph on Feb. 14.
But before they hit the ice for a showdown with the first place Gryphons, the Lakers will focus on the Gaels and Ridgebacks two teams – like the Lakers – who are looking to finish the year on a high note.
Queens, similar to the Lakers, will be prepping for the playoffs, while the Ridgebacks will be looking to take positives into the off-season, as they will fall short of post-season play.
The Lakers enter the weekend with a 2-0-1 record in their past three game, two of which were on home ice.
Overall, the Lakers have a 5-2-3 record on home ice and are 3-0-2 in their past five, after struggling a little bit early on in the season.
Nipissing will look to grab some revenge on the Gaels after a 3-2 overtime loss in late October in the teams' first meeting of the season in Kingston.
And they will look for a season sweep of the Ridgebacks thanks to a 3-1 win in Oshawa Oct. 23.
Currently, Nipissing sits in second place in the OUA with 37 points, but that's only five points ahead of eighth spot in the league and nine back of Guelph, who is in top spot.
Five points separates second place from the eighth and final playoff spot and while it looks like the eight teams who are in playoff spots as of now, are going to qualify, but where they finish will depend on the last few games on the schedule.
Queens will enter the weekend with a 2-2-1 record in the past five games and are coming off an overtime win over UOIT in their previous game.
The Gaels got off to an amazing start, going 6-0-1 in the first month of action, but have gone just 5-5-1 since the beginning of November.
Queens has two games in hand on Nipissing and could still jump them if they heat up in the final month of play, which makes Friday's matchup so pivotal for both teams.
On Saturday, the Lakers will have to refocus after a big game against Queens, as they face a team that has only pride to play for in the final four games.
The Ridgebacks aren't a team to be taken lightly, but they have had trouble picking up wins on a consistent basis this year and enter the weekend having lost five in a row and are just 1-7-0 in the month of January.
UOIT has just five wins overall, with the main issues being keeping goals out of their own net, surrendering 65 this season – the worst in the league with Windsor.
Six points are on the line this weekend for Nipissing, hosting the Gaels Friday at 5 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m., both at Memorial Gardens.
