Jackie Rochefort isn’t surprised at all.
The Nipissing Lakers women’s hockey goaltender, one of nine players who have been with the team since the OUA program launched in 2013-14, helped the Lakers secure a second-place finish (17-4-3) in the regular season, which wrapped up Sunday with a 4-1 loss to the first-place Guelph Gryphons in a game rendered meaningless because playoff matchups were already set.
The Lakers have come a long way from the inaugural season iof 2013-14, when Nipissing went 5-17-2 to finish in 12th place in the 13-team loop. The initial growing pains were expected, but so has been the success, Rochefort said.
“Talking to (head coach Darren Turcotte) the first year, this was the plan,” Rochefort said on Sunday in Guelph. “It wasn’t a one-year plan. It was ‘three or four years from now, we’re going to win.’ This is the reason we came to Nipissing – for this year and the years to come.”
The Lakers open the playoffs at home on Wednesday against the seventh-place Laurentian Voyageurs (12-10-2) at 7 p.m. at Memorial Gardens. In two previous meetings against Laurentian, Nipissing won 4-1 and 3-2.
“I think the key thing is to believe in ourselves and believe in the team,” said Rochefort, who finished as the OUA leader in goals-against average (1.33) and save percentage (.946). “We’ve worked so hard to get to this point. Four years ago, we started this from the ground up and to be the second-place team now is pretty special.
“If we just play the way we know we can – play our systems and play to our potential – we know we can do it. We know key turnovers can cost us that one-goal game, that’s what we’re trying to eliminate. But other than that, it’s just believing. Because we know we can do it, when it comes down to it.”
Turcotte, hired to head up the program in 2012, has the Lakers playing sound hockey. During a 7-1-1 stretch that started Jan. 14, Nipissing outscored opponents 21-7 and registered five shutouts.
“We’ve been pretty solid all year – we’ve run into some injuries, and it’s been one thing after another where we’ve been short players – but the fact we are where we are is really a credit to everybody in the dressing room,” said Turcotte, a 12-year NHL veteran. “We went through a little slump just after Christmas when we lost a couple games, but we’ve battled back and we’ve been playing really well lately.”
As the playoffs approached, Turcotte introduced some analytics to the players to help demonstrate where opposition scoring chances can be reduced. Before Sunday, they had played eight straight games without giving up an even-strength goal.
“We’re still not a team that scores a lot of goals and we don’t blow a lot of teams out, but especially in the last month, we’ve gained more understanding of puck placement and where we have to be better,” he said.
Those are some of the nuances of the game that have helped the Lakers continuously improve on that 12th-place finish in 2013-14, eventually rising to fifth place (13-5-6) last season and winning a playoff round for the first time.
Callander’s Jade Gauthier, a forward who also played for Turcotte in the midget North Bay Ice Boltz program, has benefitted from Turcotte’s guidance.
“I feel like I’ve improved a lot and I think everyone who has ever been coached by him, you only get better,” said Gauthier, who led the team with nine goals and 14 points in the first year and scored six more goals this season. “You definitely get smarter as a player with him, because you learn so many different things.
“Every year, we’ve gotten better. The first year, we didn’t make the playoffs. Last year, we won a round and this year, we’re up in second place. It’s been fun, growing together and getting better as a team.”
Turcotte expects the playoff experience from a year ago – the Lakers swept Queen’s in the opening round before suffering a 1-0 triple-overtime loss to Western in Game 3 of the semifinals – could come in handy, although the Lakers can be a “tricky group” when it comes to playing their best.
“There’s still that fine line, but there are some stretches where they can dominate and they’re learning a little more about being able to tune in at the right time and hopefully over the next three weeks, they’re tuned in,” Turcotte said.
Third-year forward Samantha Strassburger led the Lakers offensively with seven goals and 19 points, tying for 12th in league scoring. Kaley Tienharra was also among the league’s top 20 with 18 points, while Bronwyn Bolduc had a team-high 11 goals.
“We’ve had contributions from everybody,” Turcotte said. “Our defence has been really involved in the offence (Alexane Papineau, Taylor McManus and Zosia Davis were all among the league’s top-10 scoring blue-liners). Our team defence and our goaltending have been great. Up front, we don’t have one line that does a tremendous amount of scoring more than any other, so we’re pretty well-balanced. We’re banking on a strong team game nullifying other teams’ top players.”
The Lakers will lose Papineau, goaltender Micaela Stutzki and forwards Laura McKenzie and Janica Vossos to graduation, but a solid core should be in place next season. And, Turcotte is hoping, for years to come.
“In our first year, we were just looking for anyone who wanted to play and we were fortunate to get some players who came in with a great work ethic who wanted to get better,” he said. “The four players we’re losing this year and some of our other veterans who are staying for a fifth year, they’ve really helped with the younger players. We’ve made steady progress and if we keep trending that way, we should be successful for a while.
“We feel we’re headed in the right direction. We want this year to be our year, but if not, we have a lot to look forward to next year.”
Gauthier is among the group of original recruits eligible for next season, but the focus at hand is trying to continue improving and advance to the McCaw Cup final and a berth at the national championships.
“We’re playing Laurentian in the playoffs and that’s always a big rivalry,” Gauthier said. “We’re at home on Wednesday and we just want to have a good start. It’s the playoffs and anything can happen, so we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves.”
