Hockey: Lakers nipped in thrilling opener

From the look of it, Nipissing gave the opening-night crowd of 3,374 a thrill tonight in North Bay.

The Queen's Golden Gaels won, 5-4 in a shootout, after the Lakers scored three goals in the final 6½ minutes of regulation. More remarkably, they even tied the game on a short-handed goal by John Quarrie with 2:31 remaining. Quarrie also had two assists on the night.

As fate would have it, it was a Northern Ontario boy who wrapped up the win. Joey Derochie, a Sudbury native, scored the shootout clincher for Queen's.

Nice touch: Nipissing presented Queen's coach Brett Gibson, who starred with the old North Bay Centennials, with a commemorative jersey.
"I always said I loved my time here in North Bay and I'm not exaggerating one bit ... If they had these guys here, I think there would still be a team in North Bay. It was just fantastic, it brought back a lot of memories.

"A lot of people who came to the Cents' games were here tonight and it was great to say hello to them all because there are great fans in North Bay. It's just a matter of getting the product on the ice."

Related:
Opening night thriller (Ken Pagan, North Bay Nugget)
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2 comments:

  1. i was watching this on tv and turned it off when they were down 3-0 on with a short handed goal, i guess i missed alot, bummer

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  2. If the Derochie betrayal (Honestly, I can't blame the kid for choosing Queens over Nipissing.) doesn't prove that nothing good ever comes out of Sudbury than I don't know what will.

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