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The biggest game of the season.
Actually, the biggest ones come during playoffs, but for the Nipissing Lakers, Friday's head-to- head matchup against the visiting Carleton Ravens will have a significant impact on their playoff positioning in the OUA East division.
The fourth-place Lakers (10-5- 4) host the fifth-place Ravens (10-6-2) at Memorial Gardens Friday. The winner will carry some momentum into the home stretch, which, on paper, the Lakers hold a slight advantage in terms of schedule. All of the Lakers' 11 post-Christmas games -- including last weekend's pair against the Queen's Gaels -- are against teams below them in the OUA East standings.
The Ravens, meanwhile, have three games remaining against first-place McGill (15-1-2), one against second-place UQTR (14- 5-1) and another against third-place Ottawa (12-7-1).
The Ottawa Gee Gees also have some difficult games ahead, with three games remaining against UQTR and two more against McGill.
Thus, the Lakers can put themselves in the driver's seat in the quest to finish at least third place in the division with a win Friday against Carleton.
I try to get the message across that when there are only 28 games on the schedule, every game is big," Lakers head coach Mike McParland said after Wednesday's practice. But there are some games that are a little more important and this would be one of them.
Carleton could be a playoff opponent as well, so it would be good to get some confidence against them. We had them in here earlier this season (in September) and we played them in Ottawa and they were tough games and I don't expect anything different Friday night."
In their last meeting in Ottawa Nov. 12, the Lakers held a 4-2 lead with 15 minutes remaining before surrendering five goals in a 7-5 loss. Nipissing topped Carleton 4-3 in the Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Game Sept. 16 and also swept the two-game series against the Ravens last season.
But the Ravens, who added five-year OHL defenceman Tim Billingsley for the second half, have established a reputation as a top hockey program in the OUA East, using a physical style that is difficult to play against.
PHYSICAL STYLE
The Ravens' 630 penalty minutes is tops in the OUA.
They have a good team, if not the best team in our division with the additions at Christmas, but the only crack I see in them is they can get distracted," McParland said. That will be key for us, to stay calm and confident in ourselves."
Lakers alternate captain Andrew Marcoux, now in his third season, knows that every game is important, particularly in the second half.
He usually gets up for games against the Ravens, not only because they are a quality team, but because he wants to play hard for his friend, captain Brodie Beard, who played for the Ravens when Carleton started up its hockey program in 2007.
We looked ahead at our final games and set a goal for ourselves for how many points we want to get, so we have to be prepared for every game," Marcoux said.
But when you play a team like Carleton, we've always played hard games against them and they've always been pretty close. For some of our older guys, it has a bit more meaning, especially for (Brodie), who used to play with those guys."
Marcoux is the Lakers' all-time leading scorer, having put up 38 goals and 69 points in leading the team in scoring each of its first two seasons in the OUA.
He has missed games to injury this season and enters the weekend with two goals and 12 points in 14 games, looking to regain his scoring touch.
I generally like playing teams that are a tough opponent," he said. They play us hard and it's always a good, competitive game. This will keep us honest and everyone has to play hard or you won't play."