North Bay, ON – The Nipissing Lakers secured a 5-2 win against the University of Ottawa GeeGees in exhibition play on Saturday, January 3rd.
The first period started quickly, with either side eager to shake off the rust and get back into game form. Ottawa's Cam Gauvreau took an interference penalty at the 3:03 mark of the first, giving Nipissing a power play chance. The Lakers were unsuccessful, but generated momentum that led to the game's first goal at 6:33; Dominik LeBlanc finished a pass from Jeremy Duhamel, and the score read 1-0 for the home team.
Ottawa quickly responded as William Provost got the GeeGees on the board, knotting the game at a goal apiece.
Ottawa maintained pressure in the later stages of the frame, but Lakers net minder Zach Roy took care of the GeeGees attack.
Nipissing's Chase Lacombe and Ottawa's Mitchell Martin took coincidental minor penalties at 17:11 in the frame, leading to 4 on 4 action to end the period.
Nipissing had a handful of odd man rushes in the period but only managed to find the back of the net once, and the game remained tied at one after 20 minutes of play. Shots were 7-6 in favour of Nipissing in the first.
The second period began with Ottawa taking a 2-1 lead at 2:28. Maxim Grondin was responsible for the goal.After some back and forth, the Lakers managed to find the back of the net and tie the game, as Reilly Mayne found the twine at 8:33 in the second.
Nipissing' Chase Lacombe and Ottawa's Elliot Dutil were called for coincidental minors at the 9-minute mark of the second, sending this game back to four on four.
The Lakers capitalized quickly, as Alexis Beaulac gave the Lakers a 3-2 lead at 11:34.
The rest of the second period featured no scoring, and the Lakers took a 3-2 lead to the second intermission. Shots were 20-19 Nipissing after two periods of play.
The Lakers took two minor penalties to begin the third period, killing the first and second to have the score remain at 3-2. Ottawa applied pressure during their power plays, but Charlie Laser-Hume stood tall and squandered the GeeGees chances.
Nipissing's Dominik LeBlanc scored his second of the game at the mid-way point of the third period, giving the Lakers a 4-2 lead.
Ottawa proved they had fight left, sending many shots at Laser-Hume in the dying minutes of the period trying to get a goal back. Nipissing would add another at 19:30, as Kenny Belanger added an empty net goal to give Nipissing a 5-2 win.
This match was Nipissing's only tune-up game before the second half of the OUA schedule begins. The Lakers are back in action on Saturday, January 10th at 4PM on the road against Trois-Rivieres. Catch the action live on OUA.tv.
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