Lakers comeback falls short in shootout

An electric Memorial Gardens full of the new Lakers fan base watches the Lakers player introductions. Photo by Chris Dawson.

It may only be game one but Mike McParland believes in his team. So when the Lakers were down 4-0 in the home opener - in the first regular season game in team history –the veteran bench boss tried to motivate his club by telling them he thinks this is a special group.

Well Mike, it worked.

The Lakers fought back with 4 goals in a 12 minutes span of the third period, including the shorthanded tying goal by John Quarrie with 2 and a half minutes left in regulation time.

However, overtime solved nothing and the Golden Gaels got some redemption as they scored twice in the shootout (2-0) to win the game 5-4.

Still, the comeback, and the point, was in many ways a huge victory for the expansion OUA franchise.

“I told them in the dressing room (in the second period) let’s just show everybody why we are special and we came out in the 3rd period and did an outstanding job as we had queen’s so far back on their heels I wasn’t sure if they could move forward anymore. I’m real proud of the guys how they came back and the support the fans were giving us at the end – the standing ovation for the guys was well deserved and I’m proud of them.”

Marcus Pryde got the team’s first goal in franchise history on a tip in off a Sean Ryan shot 5:26 into the third period. Andrew Marcoux and Jason Gray helped close the gap before Quarrie’s tying marker.

Despite playing in front of a large crowd like this in the pre-season opener against Ottawa, Quarrie believes the players were still a bit overwhelmed by the massive crowd of 3,400 plus.

“We were all talking in the second intermission about how all these fans come to see us and we are like the show in town so we decided to go out and play like we know how to play and we came out and got 4 goals in the third and it all started by the tip shot by Pryde that got the ball rolling and got the crowd back into the game and that played a big part,” said Quarrie, who finished with 1 goal and 2 assists on the night.

“Honestly for me, I’ve never had anything like this having a live band here and having a lot of fans here that are constantly chanting and cheering so it was kind of nerve wracking but we kind of overcame it in the 3rd period and we started to play more loose and got more excited and our legs just kept coming and coming.”

Golden Gaels head coach Brett Gibson felt his club played a great opening 40 minutes – taking a huge 4 goal lead and more importantly taking the crowd out of the game.

“I knew once they got the first goal the place was going to erupt and it was just a matter of a 6 hour bus trip and the crowd getting into it and Mike has got a great program going here if they have that many fans every game it’s going to make it a tough building to play in,” said Gibson.

Clinton McCullough opened the scoring for the Golden Gaels in the first period and then Jon Lawrance, Jordan Mirwaldt, and TJ Sutter scored 2nd period goals to give them what appeared to be a insurmountable lead.

In the shootout former Owen Sound Attack first round pick Payton Liske and Joey Durochie beat Lakers goalie Kyle Cantlon while Golden Gaels netminder easily stopped Ryan Maunu and Matt Lahey for the shootout victory.

Centennial Memories

For Golden Gaels coach Brett Gibson, Friday night was a bit of a homecoming. Gibson played parts of 2 seasons with the North Bay Centennials from 1997 to 1999, including an impressive 88 point campaign with the Trainmen in his final year here.

“I always said I loved my time here in North Bay and I am not exaggerating one bit,” said Gibson who still keeps in close touch with former Cents assistant Jim Hulton, who is now an assistant coach with the Florida Panthers.

“It was one of my funnest stops but if they had these (competitive) guys here there would still be an OHL team in North Bay. It’s just fantastic, it brought back a lot of memories and a lot of people that came to the Cents games were here tonight and it was great to see them and say hello to them all because there are great fans in North Bay, it’s just a matter of getting the product on the ice and sometimes the Centennials teams that I played on, the product wasn’t that great.”

Among the Centennial fans in attendance were former team owners Ted Thomson and Bill Finnis.

Lakers vs. Lakers

The Nipissing Lakers will head to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan where they will battle the NCAA Div. I Lake Superior State Lakers in an exhibition game at the Taffy Abel arena Saturday night.

“I’m looking forward to it a lot and I know a lot of the guys are too,” said Quarrie about the exhibition contest.

“Back in my junior days I had a chance to go play NCAA so it’s kind of a test to me to see where I fit in amongst those guys as well.”

BayToday.ca will have reporter Lucas Punkari at the Lakers vs. Lakers game with a full game story and photos to follow.