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Junior A Northmen host Whitby in home opener

May 18, 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Orangeville Junior A Northmen hosted their home opener Friday (May 12) night at Tony Rose arena when they welcomed the Whitby Warriors for the first game of the 2017 season.

The Northmen opened the scoring just 2:17 into the game on a goal from Dylan Watson.

Two Whitby goals three and a-half minutes apart gave the Warriors and early lead before Orangeville’s Matt Vangalen hit the net on the powerplay to make it a tie game.

At the end of the first period the Warriors were leading 4-3.

Orangeville’s third goal came from Andrew Garant with 1:15 left on the clock in the first period.

Braydon Cresswell tied the game at four with an early second period goal but the Northmen ran into trouble when the Whitby squad notched four goals to open the lead to make it an 8-4 game at the end of the second frame.

The third period started with an early Whitby goal at 1:01 into the period followed by Northmen goal from Scott Del Zotto at 2:38 into the period.

That’s all the Northmen could do for the night.

The Warriors scored three more, including an empty net goal when the Northmen put an extra attacker on the floor, to end the game 12-6 and handed the Orangeville team their first loss of the season.

The Northmen re-grouped the following night (Sat., May 13) when they travelled to Mimico to take on the Mountaineers.

Mimico jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period.

Orangeville’s Braydon Cresswell cut the lead with the first Northmen goal of the night.

Cresswell got his second goal of the night a few minute later on a powerplay.

The game was tied a three when Travis Brown scored with 7:53 left in the first period but again the Mountaineers managed to go ahead to lead 4-3 with going into the second period.

The only Northmen second period goal came from Matt Van Galen but the Mimico squad was back in the lead with three minutes remaining in the period.

The game came down to a tough third period starting with an O-ville goal from Dylan Watson to tie the game at five.

Mimico again took the lead but O-villes Scott Del Zotto hit the back of the Mimico net with six minutes left of the clock to make game a last minute battle to see who could score.

The Northmen left with a 7-6 win when Matt Van Galen scored with three minutes left on the clock to give the Orangeville team a 1-1 record early in the season.

The Ontario Junior A Lacrosse League has 11 teams in the line-up this season.

The Northmen are the defending League champions and finalists at last year’s Minto Cup.

The Northmen will be back home at Tony Rose arena on Friday (May 19) night when they host the St. Catharines Athletics.

Game time is 8:00 p.m.

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