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New faces will dominate Lakers Men's Hockey Roster in 14-15

To say it’s been a busy off-season for Mike McParland would be an understatement.

To say it’s been a busy off-season for Mike McParland would be an understatement. 

The Lakers Varsity Men’s Hockey Team Head Coach had his roster purged thanks to graduation of star players Conor O’Donnell, Grant Toulmin and Dorian Peca to name only a few. 

“We are looking forward to a real fun year, we will be youthful this year,” said McParland about his 2014-15 Lakers squad.

“I think it’s similar to 3 years ago where you look at this group and you go in two years this will be a good group and 3 years ago we had our best group ever.”

McParland is bringing in more than a dozen new faces who will battle for roster spots this season. 

Among the high profile recruits include goaltender Cole Holowenko, local product Dylan Staples, defenceman Jim McDowell, and Erik Robichaud, all of whom bring with them significant major junior hockey experience. 

“We were lucky we got 5 or 6 kids with Major Junior experience to add to what we have coming back and we have 5 or 6 top tier II guys, guys that went to the Dudley-Hewitt Cup and Fred Page Cup last year,” noted McParland. 

Jimmy McDowell played 48 games last year with the Sarnia Sting, accumulating 12 goals along with 19 assists totalling 31 points as an overage in the OHL last season. 

“We are looking at him coming in and stepping in right away and helping enhance our power play,” said McParland. 

The newly renovated Memorial Gardens also helped in the recruiting process.  McParland says it was much easier to recruit this spring with all the arena construction behind them.  

“Last year we struggled with the uncertainty of where we were going to fit in to the hierarchy of the arena,” admitted McParland. 

“We had a lot of players who were intrepid about the possibility of coming to Nipissing because of the uncertainty.  We actually had players even come in and and saw the construction and saw us carrying the equipment around everywhere until November and they actually quit and went home they didn’t want to be part of that. 

“Now with the arena done and looking good, and having our own room, the recruiting season this year was exceptional.  Granted we don’t usually get the upper echelon player just because of resources available to the other schools and different parameters at schools in the East Coast.  So we get a lot of players in that next tier and we’ve got a lot of good players.”

However, with all the new faces, McParland realizes there will be growing pains in 2014-15.  

“If the cycle goes as it should we will be competitive, a top 3 or 4 team in 2 years and I think that’s what it looks like right now - it looks like we have a real good base in place and if we can add components over the next years I think in year 2 or 3 of this rebuild we will be a top 3 or 4 team again.”

The players will check in on Saturday, August 30th when they begin with off-ice fitness testing at the University


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Chris Dawson

About the Author: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson has been with BayToday.ca since 2004. He has provided up-to-the-minute sports coverage and has become a key member of the BayToday news team.
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