Lakers Athletics

The Nipissing Lakers' game plan heading in was to stay confident and wait for the Carleton Ravens, the most penalized team in OUA men's hockey, to self-destruct.

Carleton took their penalties alright, but it was the Lakers who self-destructed.

The visiting Ravens (11-6-2) scored three short-handed goals — including two less than a minute apart to open the second period — to claim a 5-4 win over the Lakers (10-6-4) in front of 1,304 fans at Memorial Gardens, Friday.

The home side was quick out of the gate, with rookie defenceman Jon Mitchell scoring his first OUA goal 4:45 in and Sam Hopewell adding a beauty 40 seconds later to give the Lakers a 2-0 lead.

Nipissing's plan was working, with the Ravens taking four minor penalties in the first period.

But even with Nipissing starting the second period on the power play, the momentum quickly shifted. Carleton's Jeff Hayes scored a short-handed goal 49 seconds into the period and Joe Pleckaitis jumped on a giveaway by Lakers goalie Dan Spence to slide the puck into an empty net a minute later and tie the game.

After the Ravens' Andrew Self banged in a bouncing puck in the crease to put Carleton ahead midway through the period, Shane Bakker clapped home another short-handed goal with 2:41 left in the period, capitalizing on another Nipissing miscommunication behind their own net.

Lakers head coach Mike McParland said he thought his team could have been ahead 4-0 or 5-0 after the first period, but not burying opportunities proved costly.

"In the second period, right off the bat when we gave up two short-handed goals, we put our own noose around our own neck," McParland said. "Again, the other team scored five goals and there wasn't a goal where they had two assists and all five goals were an absolute gift-wrapped chance for the opposition.

"We gave the puck away for all five goals. You're not going to beat a good team when you give them goals."

The Lakers' Doug Clarkson got them back to 4-3 with a power-play goal midway through the third period, but with Nipissing pressing for the equalizer, Carleton's Andrew Glass got loose for a breakaway and banked it in off the post to make it 5-3.


The Lakers' Dan Watt scored with 10 seconds left to get back within a goal.

The Lakers' patience and discipline gave them nine power-play opportunities to Carleton's four, but self-destructing on your own power play chances is no way for a team to win.

"It was individual failures for all three (short-handed) goals," McParland said. "Dan Spence gave two away and Conor O'Donnell gave one away. The guys who are handling the puck have to make good decisions with it.

"At this level, and with the experience these guys have, there is absolutely no excuse for coughing up the puck on the power play like that."

The Lakers had just 10 shots on net through the first two periods, but a better third-period effort gave them a 30-29 overall edge in shots. Carleton goalie Matthew Dopud made 26 saves for the win, while Spence made 24 saves in taking the loss.

With eight games remaining, the fifth-place Lakers still have a solid chance at finishing among the top three in the OUA East, but they'll have to polish up parts of their game during the stretch run if they hope to have much playoff success.

While their 84 goals scored is the second-most in the 10-team division, their 84 goals against is tied for worst in the division and puts them 17th out of 19 OUA teams.

With the final eight games against teams below them in the standings, there is room for improvement.

"The compete level has to be better over 60 minutes," McParland said. "We were OK in the first and third period. But when they were short-handed, they outworked us. If you're going to get outworked on the power play, you're not going to win many games.

That's one area that drastically has to take a step up.

"Another thing we might be doing here in preparing for the playoffs, you might see us put a checking line together to start preparing to shut down big lines."

Ice Chips

• Kevin Flather, a forward with European pro experience who joined the Lakers for the second half, made his debut. McParland said he showed some rust, but was a force physically and did some good things.

" I think he'll be fine," McParland said. "He just has to get in a little better game shape."

• Forward Scott Restoule, who is enrolled in the Bachelor of Education program, appears to be less of an option the rest of the way, with his class schedule and inability to miss any more school time making it difficult to attend practices.

• An all-local officiating crew worked the game, with referee TJ Foster working between linesmen Steve Dix and Dennis Harling.