Box Score Coming off a weekend split on the road, the Nipissing Lakers women's hockey team is set to play three straight on home ice, beginning Friday night.

The Lakers hosted the Queen's Gaels in the first of two matchups on the weekend.

Led by multi-point games from three Lakers and four different goal scorers, the Lakers started the weekend off strong with a 4-1 win.

The Gaels put pressure on early, earning a pair of quality chances in the first five minutes of the period.

But it was Nipissing who got on the board first.

Madison Laberge snapped one upstairs from the top of the circle, putting the Lakers up 1-0 with 11:30 left in the period.

Madison Desmarais picked up the lone assist on the game's opening tally.

The goal near the midway mark of the period was the lone one of the period, as the Lakers held a 9-7 advantage in shots as well.

In the middle frame, it didn't take long for Nipissing to extend their lead.

A shot from distance by Malory Dominico was redirected by Emma Thomas and bounced into the net, doubling the Lakers lead.

Lakers captain Allison Hayhurst earned the secondary assist on the goal.

A goal in each period had Nipissing up 2-0 after 40 minutes, but the shots favoured Queen's 18-17 through a pair of periods.

In the third, despite a slow start, the Lakers added to their lead just before the midway mark of the period.

Dominico took a nice cross-ice feed from Maggie McKee and converted to add to the Nipissing lead.

Hayhurst picked up her second helper on the night.

Queen's refused to go away, despite being down three.

The Gaels buried a power play marker just minutes after Dominico's goal to pull within two.

From there, Nipissing weathered the late surge by the Gaels and put the game away with an empty-netter.

Megan Hayhurst made no mistake, scoring her first of the season.

McKee and Laberge each completed multi-point nights with assists on the fourth Lakers goal.

Chantelle Sandquist made 23 saves for the win, while the Lakers fired 28 shots at the Gaels net.

The two teams are back at it Saturday evening to wrap up the weekend series.

Game time is 5pm at Memorial Gardens.