Winning weekend for Lakers Hockey

As they enter the home stretch of the regular season, the Nipissing Lakers men’s hockey team is building momentum and confidence, thanks to a pair of weekend victories.On Friday night at home in the cozy confines of Memorial Gardens, the Lakers battled the Ryerson Rams in a 4-3 dogfight that saw the Lakers outshot 35-30.
They managed to hold on to the victory, thanks to some stellar goaltending by Dan Spence and the hot sticks of the Dorian Peca-Connor O’Donnell-Grant Toulmin line, who notched a total of eight points on the night.
Scoring came from Peca, with two, Toulmin and Sam Hopewell.
The Lakers had jumped out to a two-goal lead, but saw it evaporate in the second period, forcing them to buckle down and get the job done to earn two valuable points as the playoffs start to loom on the horizon.
The Lakers had little chance to celebrate the victory, heading to Kingston to take on the Queen’s Gaels on Saturday night.
In Kingston, the Lakers put together a solid effort in earning their third-straight victory, 4-2 over Queen’s.
Once again the Lakers staked a 2-0 lead, off the sticks of Jason Gray and Peca.  The two-goal cushion didn’t last long as Queen’s scored just 30 seconds after Peca’s marker.
Vern Cooper popped his 10th of the season as the second period wound down to restore the two-goal lead.  Queen’s, however, kept pressing and came to within a single goal before veteran Laker Andrew Marcoux added the insurance goal midway through the third period.
With the wins the Lakers find themselves in a tie with the University of Toronto for fourth place in the OUA East and only four games left in the regular season.
If the Lakers want to secure home ice advantage in the playoffs, wins now are utterly imperative.