Montreal, Quebec – Lakers Men's Hockey opened their 2026-27 regular season with a two-game road trip.
On Friday, October 9
th, the Lakers took on the Concordia Stingers to open their season.
In the first period, Concordia scored under one minute into action to take a 1-0 lead. The Lakers responded with a short-handed goal at 2:19 from
Danny Akkouche to tie things at one.
The Stingers would regain their lead at 19:33 and would take a 2-1 advantage into the dressing rooms after 20 minutes.
The second period saw the Lakers score early (0:29) to tie the game once again, this time at two.
Luke Strickland recorded the tally, assisted by
Danny Akkouche and
Noah Vom Scheidt.
Nipissing would take a 3-2 lead courtesy of
Matthew Thomas' powerplay goal at 3:15 of the second period.
Charlie Johnson recorded an assist on the goal.
Nipissing would lead 3-2 through 40 minutes of play.
The final frame saw Concordia tie the contest at three apiece. 60 minutes were not enough to decide a victor. Overtime also produced a 3-3 tie; this game headed to a shootout where Concordia would collect the win and extra point, 4-3.
Lakers netminder
Zach Roy made 32 saves in the shootout loss.
Then, on Saturday, October 10
th, the Lakers took on the McGill Rebirds looking to leave Quebec with points and momentum.
In the first, it was Lakers rookie
Michael Derbidge who scored his first of the year at 5:38 to give the Lakers the 1-0 lead.
Mason Chitaroni and
Charlie Johnson picked up assists on the goal.
Charlie Johnson would score a goal of his own at 11:16, on the powerplay, to put the Lakers up by two.
Noah Vom Scheidt collected the lone assist.
McGill would answer with three straight goals in just over two minutes of play to lead 3-2 after one period.
In the second, it was
Luke Strickland at 4:01 who tied things at 3-3, scoring his second goal in as many games.
Danny Akkouche and Vom Scheidt recorded assists.
Then, not 12 seconds after, it was Nico LaForge who scored to give the Lakers a 4-3 lead, assisted by
Markas Samenas. The one-goal lead would hold through 40 minutes of play.
The final frame saw no goals for either side, and the Lakers skated to their first win of the season, 4-3.
Lakers goalie
Zach Roy made 42 saves on 45 shots in the win. Nipissing went 1/5 on powerplay opportunities.
The weekend results put the Lakers at a 1-0-1 record to start the 2026-27 season, good for 3 points and 3
rd place in the OUA East.
Men's Hockey is back on the ice this Saturday, October 17
th at 4:00PM when the UQTR Patriots are the opponents for the Lakers 2026-27 home-opening game.
Tickets are available at the Memorial Gardens box office. The game will be live on OUA.tv.
