On a historic night, their inaugural Military Appreciation Night, the Nipissing Lakers women's hockey team hosted the Waterloo Warriors.

Looking to put on a show in their winter camouflage uniforms, the Lakers came up with a big effort and claimed three points thanks to a strong 2-1 win over Waterloo.

In the opening period, the Warriors were first on the board.

After a long clearing pass took a Waterloo bounce, a 2-on-1 turned into a goal and put the visitors up 1-0 with 8:45 left on the clock.

The Warriors goal was the only one of the period and put them up a goal after 20 minutes, while Nipissing outshot Waterloo 7-6.

In the middle frame, the Lakers played with a lot more urgency  in their game and generated a number of scoring chances in the first half of the period.

 Despite pressure and quality chances, the Lakers weren't able to breakthrough and the score remained 1-0 in favour of Waterloo until the final few minutes of the second.

Maria Dominico found the back of the net, set up by Jetta Derenoski, to tie the game with 3:37 left on the clock.

Thanks to a strong middle period, the teams headed to the intermission tied 1-1.

The shots favoured Nipissing by six, 18-12 through 40 minutes.

In the third with the scored tied, Marilyn Fortin put the Lakers ahead, firing one from long distance that found its way into the net.

Stacey Henshaw and Katelyn Heppner earned helpers on the go-ahead tally.

Nipissing locked things down, especailly in the neutral zone after going up a goal, limiting Waterloo's chances.

A late penalty on the Lakers set up a thrilling finish, as Nipissing played the final 59.2 seconds shorthanded.

A big kill ended the game and gave Nipissing a key victory to close out the weekend.

Chantelle Sandquist got her second start of the weekend and finished with 21 saves, while Nipissing had 25 shots on goal.

Next up, the Lakers take on the Western Mustangs and Windsor Lancers on the road next weekend.

They'll return home Jan. 31 for a matchup against the York Lions.