The York University Lions women's hockey team was shut out by the Nipissing Lakers by a score of 3-0 on Friday (Oct. 16) in their season opener at Canlan Ice Sports.
 
The Lakers offence was aggressive from the get go, but Megan Lee (Orillia, Ont.) shut the door on all of the early scoring opportunities, which was highlighted by an outstanding save that saw Lee move across the crease to kick out the pad on a potential tic-tack-toe goal.
 
The narrative of the Friday's game was the battle of the goaltenders, as both Lee and Lakers goaltender Natalie Graham put on a show for the crowd at Canlan.  
 
The number of shots coming from the Lakers in the first period began to climb and eventually one by Kaley Tienhaara beat Lee to give the Lakers the 1-0 lead with five minutes remaining in the first period.
 
The second period was much of the same story, as the goaltenders stole the show. Carly Marchment, the captain of the Lakers, got behind the York defence and broke in on a breakaway from the redline. She had plenty of time to formulate a goal scoring move, but Lee read the play perfectly and denied the forehand-backhand combo to keep the game in reach.
 
Moments after the first breakaway occurred, a Laker was sprung free for another breakaway, but the result differed as Sam Strassburger found Lee's five hole which gave Nipissing a 2-0 lead going into the third. 
 
The third period had both teams sharing time in the penalty box, but neither could capitalize on the odd-man advantage. With five minutes remaining in the game the Lakers added a third goal by Stacey Henshaw which sealed the victory and gave the Lions their third loss to start the 2015-16 season.
 
The Lions are back on home ice on Saturday (Oct. 17) to face the Laurentian Voyagers at 7pm. They will be looking for their first victory of the year, while Laurentian is 1-0-2 and ranked No. 10 in the CIS.