The Nipissing Lakers men's hockey team, who wore camouflage jerseys for their sixth annual Military Appreciation Night, beat the RMC Paladins 7-2 at Memorial Gardens on Saturday night. The Lakers are in the midst of a five-game home stand, which continues next Friday against Lakehead University. PHOTOS BY LIAM BERTI
In a unique salute to the Canadian Armed Forces, the Nipissing Lakers men’s hockey team donned unique camouflage jerseys in their 7-2 routing of the Royal Military College Paladins during the sixth annual Military Appreciation Night on Saturday.
Sporting their specialized camouflage look, the Lakers (11-7-1) outshot, out-battled and out-scored the Paladins (0-14-2) in front of hundreds of local Canadian Forces personnel in the stands at Memorial Gardens.
“The effort was really good,” said Lakers head coach Mike McParland after the game. “RMC, they’re having a tough time this year, but it’s good that we didn’t give them much of a chance.”
The Lakers, who looked like a force of their own, pressured RMC goaltender Evan Deviller with 46 shots, with five different goal-scorers getting in on the action.
First star of the game Erik Robichaud led the way for the Lakers with three goals and one assist, while goaltender Kirk Rafuse made 30 saves while wearing a customized 22-Wing paint design on his helmet.
“It feels good, especially with all of them watching,” Robichaud said of scoring a hattrick in front of the Military men and women. “It was a good night.”
The Lakers buried the Paladins early on, scoring three consecutive goals in the first thirty minutes of the game. Robichaud got the Nipissing boys on the board first with an early power play tally just over five-minutes into the game. Colin Campbell and Jim Mcdowell then led the second period Laker attack, scoring just over five minutes apart.
The Paladins responded by scoring two goals two minutes apart in a brief second-period surge, but that was the close as the visitors would get as the Lakers responded with four unanswered goals to cruise to their second win of 2015.
The game-worn camouflage jerseys, which were provided by Skater’s Edge Source for Sports, were auctioned off in the entrance of Memorial Gardens, along with a snowblower donated by Arnstein Lawn and Garden.
“It’s nice to hear and to know that they appreciate the effort that was put into arranging the jerseys for the night,” McParland said of his players.
The proceeds from the auction will go to the Military Family Resource Centre, a crucial element in supporting the parents, spouses and children of Canadian Armed Forces members.
“Having that money go back to the Family Resource Centre for the Military makes everybody happy,” McParland added.
While the exact dollar-figure raised won’t be known until Monday, Canadian Forces representatives said each jersey yielded an average of $60.
“This year is actually quite special, especially with the events that occurred in Ottawa and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, so it’s kind of even more meaningful this year to have the community and military all at the same game and have all of us in uniform out here,” said Cpt. Robert Kropaczewski of CFB North Bay, who coordinated the event for the first time.
“Just the importance of that and making the connection between Nipissing University, the community and us all in the same place means a lot,” he continued.
For now, the win propels the Lakers to fourth place in the OUA East with 23 points, just one less than both Carleton and UQTR, but Nipissing does have three and four games in hand on those teams, respectively.
The Lakers are now two games through a five-game home stand, which continues next Friday, Jan. 9, when they host Lakehead University at Memorial Gardens at 7 p.m. in game one of a two-game weekend series against the Thunderwolves.
“We realize that we have to take care of business,” McParland said. “If somehow we can win four or five of these home games, it would give us a legitimate chance of getting fourth.”
