Lakers forward Sam Hopewell tries to jam home a rebound in the second period. Photo by Matt Gordon.
The Nipissing University Lakers men’s hockey team got their first home win in the franchise’s young history, topping the University of Toronto Varsity Blues 4-3 on Friday night. The win was the second in a row for the Lakers who are now 2-1-1 after their first 4 games.
The Lakers were led by former North Bay Skyhawk Justin Villeneuve who had 2 goals on the night. The speedy forward was buzzing around the night the whole night and helped produce several good scoring chances.
The visitors opened the scoring with just over 3 minutes remaining in the first period when forward Joel Lenius put one by Laker netminder Kyle Cantlon. Lenius was left alone in front of the net and he beat Cantlon with a quick backhander to the top corner.
The Lakers went to the dressing room down 1-0 having been outplayed in the first period. Just as they did in their home opener against Queen’s, the home squad seemed to be gripping their sticks a little too tightly.
“A lot of guys are excited and a lot of them are nervous,” said Villeneuve of his team’s slow starts at home this season. “It takes getting hit or getting a solid chance for guys to step up their game the way they usually do,” added the Sudbury native.
The Lakers came out flying in the second period, holding the Blues to no shots in the first ten minutes while they peppered Toronto goaltender Russ Brownell with 10 shots of their own. The best chance came from forward Marcus Pryde who made a great in individual effort to get Brownell out of position and then almost slid the puck into the open cage after falling on his backside.
The Lakers were rewarded for their hard work a few minutes later when Dan Watt got in behind the Blues defence and made a great deke to his backhand to tie the game up. Then, with less than 30 seconds to play in the period Sam Hopewell was able to bang in a rebound to put the home side up 2-1 going to the dressing rooms.
“Sometimes you get full of yourself when you have the lead in a game,” said U of T head coach Darren Lowe of his team’s play in the second period. “We didn’t do the things that we did in the first period that caused us to have success,” added Lowe.
Things didn’t look any better early in the third stanza either as the Blues took two untimely minors to give the Lakers a 5 on 3 advantage. However, that was snuffed out a minute in to the power play when Nipissing captain Matt Lahey was called for high sticking. Less than 30 seconds after the second Blues penalty expired and while still on the man advantage, Toronto’s Byron Elliot scored to tie the game at 2.
Villeneuve then got his first marker of the night, coming down on a one on one and finding the five-hole on Brownell with a sharp wrister. Elliot again tied the game up midway through the third period with another power play goal. Elliot tipped a Brendan Sherrard point shot right in front of Cantlon, leaving the goaltender helpless.
Just two minutes later Villeneuve scored the eventual game winner, banging in a puck from in close to make the score 4-3.
“I think it could have been anybody tonight, everybody was getting chances and playing really well,” said Villeneuve of his two goal performance.
Late in the game Cantalon was forced to make a couple of good saves to preserve the victory as the Lakers grinded out the last few minutes.
“We willed that win; now we have to combine (that) with a cerebral game,” was Lakers’ head coach Mike McParland assessment of his teams performance. “U of T was a little bit smarter on the ice and that comes from their experience,” added the McParland.
Cantlon finished the day with 25 saves on 27 shots while the Lakers fired 35 shots at Brownell.
Following the game, the Lakers were treated to a standing ovation by the 2172 fans in attendance at Memorial Gardens; something their head coach was glad to see.
“They deserve the applause they are getting because they are working hard and they are trying hard,” said McParland.
The Lakers will head south tomorrow where they will face the Ryerson Rams at the George Bell Arena at 3pm. McParland says he is optimistic of the team’s chances in that game.
“We have a chance tomorrow to make a statement,” stated the coach. “You have to respect the opponent, but if we go in there with the right frame of mind I think that’s a team we can beat,” added the bench boss
