U18BB North Bay Junior Lakers Ontario Women’s Hockey League Southern Champions
The North Bay Jr.Lakers U18BB team found lots of success during the 2023-24 season, the team earned two tournament titles (Nepean and Brantford) as well as a silver medal finish in Whitby. The team also found success in the Central North Division of the Ontario Women’s Hockey League Southern Loop.
The U18BB Junior Lakers played in a tough league with 62 teams from around Ontario. During the regular season the team had a 25-3-4 record, outscoring their opponents 55-20. Leading them to finish the regular season in first place in the Central North Division of the OWHL.
In the first round of the play-offs the U18BB team went 5-1-0 as they faced off against Sudbury, Barrie and Central York. In round one, the team outscored their competition 18-5 sending them into the second round.
In round two the Lakers played the Markham-Stouffville Stars and the Otonabee Wolverines, in the next four games the Jr.Lakers would go on pick up 3 wins and a tie. This would prove to be enough to advance the team to the league championship game on April 6th at Westwood Arena in Etobicoke.
In the Championship game the Lakers would face off against the South Huron Sabres. The Sabres played out of the Central West division where they finished with a 17-4-1 record in the regular season out scoring their opponents 94-20. With similar regular season records the championship was looking to be a battle for both teams.
The Jr.Lakers would open the scoring at the 7:39 mark of the first period, shortly after scoring the opening goal, the Sabres would find the equalizer to lock the game at 1-1. Less than a minute later the Lakers restored their lead and with 35 seconds remaining in the first period the Lakers would add to their lead going into the first intermission up 3-1. In the second period play was pretty steady for both teams with the Jr.Lakers holding onto their 2 goal lead heading into the final frame. In the third period, the Lakers would add two more quick goals to have a sold 4 goal lead. With 8:39 remaining in the frame the Sabres would cut the Jr.Lakers lead to 3. With a minute remaining the Sabres would score again to make things interesting. The Lakers were able to hold on for the win and earn the OWHL Southern League title for the 2023-24 season.
