Lakers hockey clinch playoff berth

The Nipissing Lakers hockey team had an up and down weekend, clinching a playoff spot at home with a convincing 9-2 win over Ryerson, before dropping a tight 2-1 game against UofT on Saturday.Lakers batter Rams to clinch playoff spotBy Ken Pagan, North Bay Nugget
The Nipissing Lakers men’s hockey team has a playoff spot locked up, but now is not the time to start losing players to injury and suspension.
The Lakers scored five goals in a wide open third period to earn a 9-3 win over the visiting Ryerson Rams and nail down a playoff spot, in front of 1,289 fans at Memorial Gardens, but four players were missing from the bench at the final buzzer.
Defencemen Paul Cianfrini (lower body) left the game early in the third period and Brodie Beard limped off with two minutes left. Fellow defenceman Sean Ryan was given a fighting major after getting jumped by Ryerson’s Scott Brown with 2:33 remaining and forward Dorian Peca was also handed a fighting major for keeping his gloves on and being tied up by T.J. Battani during the melee.
Because Brown was given the instigator penalty, Lakers head coach Mike McParland wasn’t certain whether Ryan would receive the automatic one-game suspension that comes with fighting majors, although it appears Peca would be unavailable.
The third-place Lakers (15-6-4) play another important road game Saturday against the fourth-place Toronto Varsity Blues (13-8-3).
“It’s a really big game tomorrow, no question,” McParland said. “We have to come out of there with something. We’re going to all come in here tomorrow and see where we’re at, assess our injuries and suspensions, but we have some extra guys, so some guys will maybe get a chance tomorrow.”
It would be an even bigger game against Toronto had the Lakers not taken care of business against Ryerson Friday night, but the five-goal outburst in the final period sealed the deal.
Peca scored twice and also assisted on Doug Clarkson’s game-opening goal midway through the first period. (The fighting major with 2:33 left earned him a Gordie Howe Hat Trick, but it was a fight that never was).
Conor O’Donnell, with his first goal since his eight-point game Nov. 11, Matt Paton, Dan Watt, Kevin Flather, Sam Hopewell and Andrew Marcoux also scored for the Lakers, who were tied 2-2 after the opening period and led 4-3 after 40 minutes.Clarkson finished with three assists.
Paton’s eventual game-winner with 1:22 left in the second was a highlight-reel beauty, knocking Ryerson goaler Steve Gleeson’s water bottle off with a short-side wrister under the cross bar.
“I thought we needed to at least finish the first period better than we did,” said McParland, whose team jumped out to a 2-0 lead. “We started fine, but we let up and gave them two goals and let them back in it. I thought we let them hang around a little bit too long and they fought hard until we finally put them away.”
Matt McCann, Jason McDonough and Dustin Alcock scored for the Rams (11-11-3).
The Lakers outshot the Rams 34-30, with Nipissing goaltender Daniel Spence making 27 saves for the win. The Lakers went 3-for-4 on the power play, while Ryerson was 1-for-4.
For the Lakers, it is their third straight playoff appearance in their third season in the OUA and they have a good chance to finish in the top three spots in the division.
“Our power play has really been clicking and the guys were moving the puck pretty well, but I think it’s big that everyone is playing their role for 60 minutes,” said Hopewell, a third-year veteran who scored his fourth goal of the season on a breakaway. “We had a couple weak spots in tonight’s game, we let them come back, but to take a game like that in such a commanding fashion, if we can do that to teams, there is not many teams that can stop us.”
Saturday’s game against Toronto takes on more importance, in that the Varsity Blues’ final two games of the season are against last-place RMC. So a win Saturday would all but lock up at least third place for the Lakers.
“Obviously, we want to come out of there with the two points,” Hopewell said. “We know going in there it’s going to be a grind trying to get the two points because they always seem to play pretty well in their rink. Hopefully, all the guys are healthy after tonight’s game. But the two points are so big, because they’re so close to us.”Lakers’ streak ends in Toronto
The race for the coveted third place spot in the OUA East men's hockey standings got a lot tighter with the Toronto Varsity Blues' 2-1 win over the Nipissing Lakers, Saturday night.
The loss ends Nipissing's five-game winning streak.
The Varsity Blues (14-8-3) move to within three points of the Lakers (15-7-4), with Toronto holding a game in hand and also facing last-place RMC twice in their final three games.
Toronto's Byron Elliot scored twice on the power play to give the Varsity Blues a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. The Lakers' Kevin Flather cut the lead to 2-1 late in the third period but after a late Toronto penalty and goalie Daniel Spence pulled for the extra attacker, the Lakers could not find the equalizer.
Nipissing played the game without captain Brodie Beard, who was injured in Friday's 9-3 win over the Ryerson Rams. As well, forward Doug Clarkson, who entered the game on a seven-game goal-scoring streak, was ejected in the second period with a game misconduct.
The Varsity Blues can pull within a point of Nipissing when they meet Ryerson Sunday afternoon.
The Lakers have two games remaining, including a Friday night home game against Ryerson before finishing the regular season at Queen's next Saturday.