Red hot Nipissing Lakers women’s hockey team enjoying fast start to season

The red-hot Nipissing Lakers women’s hockey team are off to a flying start in regular season play as their quest continues for their first McCaw Cup.

The feeling was jovial at the practice Tuesday night, mingled with determination and grit.

The red-hot Nipissing Lakers women’s hockey team are off to a flying start in regular season play as their quest continues for their first McCaw Cup. (Eric Taschner/CTV News)

"We try really hard to battle hard and make each other better," said defenceman Tessa Kosec.

"So that when we’re playing the other teams, we’re competing."

There’s reason for optimism. The Lakers are currently on an eight-game winning streak, cementing themselves firmly atop of the standings in the Ontario University Athletics East division.

"We are each other’s best motivators. We’re one big family and the culture has been very strong this year," said Lakers forward Emily Lange.

Head coach Darren Turcotte said he likes what he is seeing from the group. The team has set small goals to improve on for the second half of the season.

One of them is to be more disciplined and not take silly penalties during games.

The red-hot Nipissing Lakers women’s hockey team are off to a flying start in regular season play as their quest continues for their first McCaw Cup. (Eric Taschner/CTV News)

The red-hot Nipissing Lakers women’s hockey team are off to a flying start in regular season play as their quest continues for their first McCaw Cup. (Eric Taschner/CTV News)

"We’ve been the least penalized team this year," Turcotte said.

"We’ve been the most penalized team on numerous occasions. That’s definitely a good thing."

The Lakers are currently ranked as the third best university women’s hockey team in the country by U Sports, the national sport governing body for university athletics in Canada.

"We had one little setback here at home early in the season," Turcotte said.

"But, overall, they've been great. Every team in the league wants to win. We know what our goals are."

But all this recognition is not distracting the team from its goal at the end of the season.

"To win the McCaw Cup and that national championship, that’s always been our end goal," Lange said.

"We take it day-by-day. We try not to get too far ahead of ourselves. We push each other really well."

• Download the CTV News app now
• Get local breaking news alerts
• Daily newsletter with the top local stories emailed to your inbox

The team knows there’s a still a long road ahead to the post-season after the Holiday break. The Lakers came ever so close to winning its first ever championship in 2022 and 2023, losing to the Brock Badgers 3-1 and the Toronto Varsity Blues 2-1, in the back-to-back championship games.

"This is a big year for us and we really want to get it done this year," Kosec said.

But they know they’ll only get their hands on the trophy if they stay united.

The Lakers are gunning for their ninth straight win against the Queen’s University Gaels on Saturday at Memorial Gardens. Puck drop is 4 p.m.