Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 It wasn't the weekend the Nipissing Lakers men's hockey team had in mind when they hit the road for a pair of games.

Coming off two strong efforts on home ice last weekend, Nipissing wasn't able to follow that up, dropping both contests.

The Lakers lost 8-1 Friday night to the RMC Paladins in Kingston and 7-4 to the UQTR Patriotes Saturday afternoon in Trois Rivieres.

Friday, things were even through the first half of the opening period as the teams traded goals.

After RMC went up 1-0 two minutes in, Harrison Caines responded just before the midway mark of the period.

Parker Bowman and Elias Lieffers earned assists on the tally.

Unfortunately, from there it was all Paladins.

RMC scored the next seven goals, including two more before the end of the first, leading 4-1 after one.

They added three in the second and another pair in the third to claim the victory.

Zach Roy was tagged with the loss, as he made his 12th straight start.

To wrap up the weekend on Saturday, the Lakers had the task of taking on the defending USports champions.

While they did keep the game within reach, the Patriotes came out on top, defeating Nipissing by three.

The Lakers grabbed an early lead thanks to a Charles Farmer goal just two minutes into the game.

UQTR scored twice to go up a goal, but the Lakers evened things up late in the period.

Bowman buried his second of the weekend on the power play, with Cole Stewart and Caines earning assists.

The Patriotes tallied three straight in the second before the Lakers responded late.

Stewart found the back of the net, setup by Caines and Jordan Spadafore to cut the team's deficit to just two.

UQTR tacked on a late goal to go up three heading into the third.

In the final frame, the teams traded goals.

Alexander De Gagne scored to get the Lakers back within two, with Jacob Collins and Alex Dominique earning assists.

The Patriotes sealed the victory with a goal just past the midway point of the third to make it 7-4.

Roy was busy again, finishing with 32 saves.

Next up, the Lakers cap off the first half of the season with two games against Ontario Tech.

Friday at 7pm and Saturday at 2pm, both in Oshawa.