For the eighth straight season the Nipissing Lakers will be clashing with the RMC Paladins in the annual Military Appreciation Night which takes place Friday night at Memorial Gardens.
“This is always a fun night and a great game. RMC always works hard and gives us all we can handle. And this year, they’re playing very well, so we’ll have to be at our best,” Lakers men’s hockey team head coach Mike McParland said about the contest.
“I hope we get a good crowd to A, support the military and B to support the Lakers,” said McParland.
The annual game, which has always been against RMC (Royal Military College of Canada) will see the Lakers don camouflage uniforms which will be auctioned off through a silent auction and presented to the winning bid post-game.
The proceeds of the event will go towards the Military Family Resource Centre.
“This is another great community outreach and the community reaching back into the base and again it’s just a great connection on a global perspective and then on a very practical perspective the work they do to help out the military family resource centre which is a real force enabler for us,” noted 22 Wing Colonel Henrik Smith.
“When we move around and we have to move every three to five years there’s something in place for the military members when they arrive, there’s a new job and away they go but the family is left to figure it out so the Military Family Resource Centre is there to help with everything from schools to find a doctor, to figure out where to go in the city to help spouses find employment and then when they are deployed they are just an extra helping hand.”
While the crowd will likely be large, the reality is there will be mixed support between the Lakers and the Royal Military College team which traditionally does get some CFB North Bay love as the only military connected hockey team in the OUA.
Puck drop is set for 7:15 p.m. on Friday night.
